YMMV / Cranford

• Awesome Music:
  • The theme music.
  • Dr. Marshland's rendition of "The Parting Glass" in episode 3.
  • The utterly charming waltz remix of the theme, "Cranford Waltz", at the end of Return to Cranford.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Mr. Holbrook dies of pneumonia. So did his actor Michael Gambon.
• Retroactive Recognition: Return to Cranford featured a young Jodie Whittaker as Peggy Bell, nearly a decade before she'd go on to become the Thirteenth Doctor. Just to make it better, her Love Interest was played by a young Tom Hiddleston — just a few years before he would shoot to stardom as part of another iconic science-fiction/fantasy franchise, as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Sequelitis: General consensus on Return to Cranford is "Good, but not as good as the first series". The absence of some characters who are still alive (Dr. Harrison, Sophy, Jessie...), the addition of new ones (Lord Septimus, the Bells, etc.), and some of the characters' actions are especially annoying to some fans.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: The pairing of Sir Charles Maulver/Erminia Whyte sprang into existence based upon a single scene of them dancing together at the end of Return to Cranford.
• Strangled by the Red String: William and Peggy in the sequel have very little interaction for much of the first episode, with their longest conversation being about how Peggy doesn't like riding side-saddle. This makes it very jarring when William suddenly proposes to Peggy on their train journey. The most convincing part of their love story actually happens after they get engaged.
• The Woobie:
  • Practically every single episode manages to break Miss Matty's heart in one way or another. Given that she is played by Judi Dench herself, naturally, tears from the audience follow.
  • Dr. Harrison is mistakenly believed to have proposed to three different women, and in the ensuing chaos his reputation is destroyed until Mary sorts it out. And then Sophy almost dies, and her father tries to forbid Dr. Harrison from seeing her.

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