Lark Rise to Candleford

I can't recall if I've mentioned Lark Rise to Candleford here before?  It's a period series on the BBC (We started watching it on YouTube, but the first couple seasons are on Netflix so we've been getting it that way lately).  It's SO good, and I just keep liking it better the more I watch it.  The characters are so interesting and multifaceted---Sam and I keep marveling at how they manage to be funny and exasperating and loveable at the same time.  It seems like many times, characters in a movie are trying so hard to be complex and dimensional that they end up just being unfathomable, and you stop caring about them because you can't understand them.  These characters, by contrast, may fit into stereotypical roles (the strong-willed spinster, the loveable drunkard, the overly-principled idealist, etc.), but they surprise you---not the easy way, by simply doing the opposite of what you expect, but by enlarging your understanding of their motivations and ideals.  They end up being very sympathetic even when they are infuriating. 

Robert and Emma Timmins.  This guy IS my brother-in-law Steve.  I can't get over it.

Queenie.  I love her.

Lady Adelaide

Laura


Dorcas.  Yes, she's Lydia from Pride and Prejudice.  But her role is SO different in this show.  I really, really like her.

The other thing I love about this show is that it is absolutely GORGEOUS.  The English countryside is lovely, of course, and the whole place has this LIGHT to it that is just exquisite.  Serene and peaceful and luminous.  It transports me back to my Idyllic Youth when I was in England---I can remember specific golden mornings with that quiet, misty air and the unbroken green of the meadows trailing off beyond the road.  So beautiful.

If you like Pride and Prejudice and Cranford (and who doesn't?) you'll like this series.  Try it out.

10 comments

  1. I caught a few episodes of that show. AND I DID LOVE IT. I really did. And yet it was in February that i watched it and I haven't watched it since. That needs to be remedied. That you for the reminder.

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  2. Hmmm. I tuned in to about 20 minutes of this a while back and thought, "I'd bet I'd really like this if I knew what was going on." I'll have to start from the very beginning.

    wv: canks

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  3. I don't know anything about this show but I'm fairly certain I want to be Lady Adelaide. And Sophie is sure Dorcas is your grandmother.

    pilappil

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  4. Who doesn't? Philip doesn't. He can't abide their "insipid British accents." So, the scoop on season 4...may be truncated because BBC has budget cuts. Boohoo!

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  5. I've been watching it on PBS and I too love it. I think my favorite character now is the newly introduced "Little man". He's just so adorable.

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  6. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT

    We started watching it on PBS months ago - and it was love at first everything. England, the characters - the touch of magic. Loved Cranford, too. This is not for the jaded palate - for someone who has to see flesh or intense and over-the-top drama, or who thrives on formulaic adolescent romance or violent confrontation - in short - this is NOTHING like regular TV. It's not a Twilight sort of experience. It's thoughtful, quiet, deeply human and totally unspectacular in any way outside of loveliness and character.

    Me too, with you. I want to own it, because I'm sure I'll watch it more than once. The whole wonderful thing.

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  7. Allison: poor, poor Philip. I pity his poor hard heart. "Insipid accents" indeed! I hope they don't cut season 4 short---this is one time I'm not in favor of the budget cuts! :)

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  8. I've seen it a few times on PBS and I like it, too. Really great characters, story lines and acting.

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  9. I am SOOOOO happy you like this series!!!! Was I the one who first told you about it? Because if I was, I want some credit. :)

    Lydia and I are faithful followers. We love watching it! I appreciate how clean it is--nothing risqué about it. Seth wouldn't watch it because he said he knew he would get interested in it and then he'd have to keep watching it and it would never end. He likes closure. . . I did tempt him into watching one episode and he enjoyed it, but he wanted to watch the next one right away and couldn't wait a whole week, so that was the end of that.

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  10. I love it. Have you watched North and South? I love that one too. What's the other one . . . oh yeah, Wives and Daughters. Loved that one too. Cranford, when the lady stays up all night to decide what to do about the funeral, is definitely one of the best. Loved it!

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