Cranford

Jim Carter (Captain Brown) and Imelda Staunton (Miss Pole) are married in real life.

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When Dame Eileen Atkins won a BAFTA for her role as Miss Deborah Jenkyns in the series in 2008, she joked in her acceptance speech that if a second season were made she would return to haunt the cast and crew, because they had killed off her character early in the first season (August 1842 (2007)). During filming of the second season, Dame Judi Dench, who plays Deborah's sister Miss Matty Jenkyns, arranged for a life-size photograph of Deborah to appear on the railway platform where a scene was being shot, and afterwards it became a tradition to photograph the cast with this cutout of Deborah wherever filming took place.

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Dame Judi Dench had read the novel "Cranford" at school, and when a neighbour lent her the book, Elizabeth Gaskell's writing came back to her vividly. She said she hoped this television adaptation would "make people want to read it."

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The series' creator, Sue Birtwistle, learned of the novel "Cranford" after finishing another project. Although she loved it deeply, she felt it was not enough to build a drama series on, so she read more of Elizabeth Gaskell's other material, and the idea emerged of adapting three of Gaskell's short novels into a BBC Drama series, hence this series. The three novels were "Cranford," "Mr Harrison's Confessions," and "My Lady Ludlow." Birtwistle and her co-creator Susie Conklin spent several weeks in Birtwistle's New York City apartment using colour-coded cards to bring the stories together. When writer Heidi Thomas joined them, she mentioned that they had married each other twice.

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Bessie Carter (Margaret) is the daughter of Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton, and Finty Williams (Miss Smith) is the daughter of Dame Judi Dench and Michael Williams.

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Dame Judi Dench called the script "inspired" and "extraordinary."

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The story of the first mini-series spans one year, from the summer of 1842 to the summer of 1843. The second mini-series is set in 1844.

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The beige and black dress with striped sleeves worn by Francesca Annis (Lady Ludlow) is the same costume worn by Gemma Jones (Mrs. Dashwood) while playing cards at Barton Park in Sense and Sensibility (1995), by Jemma Redgrave (Lady Bertram) in the final scene of Mansfield Park (2007), and by Rosemary Enright at dinner in The Regency House Party (2004). The costume was also worn by an extra at the Netherfield Ball in Pride & Prejudice (2005), by Wendy Craig (Mrs. Lefroy) in The Real Jane Austen (2002), and by Penny Downie (Lady Judith Milbanke) at dinner after Annabella's return to the family home in Byron (2003).

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The straw bonnet with pale blue ribbon worn by Dame Judi Dench (Miss Matty) is the same costume worn by Kate Winslet (Marianne Dashwood) at Barton Cottage in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and by Dame Maggie Smith (Betsey Trotwood) in David Copperfield (1999).

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Jim Carter and Michelle Dockery would go on to work together again on Downton Abbey (2010).

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A two-part sequel, Return to Cranford (Return to Cranford: Part 1 (2010) and Return to Cranford: Part 2 (2010)), aired as a Christmas special on the BBC in December 2009. Dame Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Julia McKenzie, Deborah Findlay and Barbara Flynn, along with Jonathan Pryce, Celia Imrie, Lesley Sharp, Nicholas Le Prevost, Jodie Whittaker, Tom Hiddleston, Michelle Dockery, Matthew McNulty, Rory Kinnear and Tim Curry, reprised or joined the cast. The programme aired on PBS in the United States on 10 and 17 January 2010.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

Lesley Manville and Imelda Staunton appeared together in Maleficent (2014) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019).

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The series aired in the United Kingdom in five parts on BBC One in November and December 2007. In the United States it aired in three parts on PBS in May 2008 as part of the Masterpiece (1971) series.

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The new stories, written by Heidi Thomas and directed by Simon Curtis, take place in August 1844, one year after the wedding of Sophy Hutton and Dr. Harrison. The railway scenes were filmed on the Foxfield Railway in Staffordshire.

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Cranford returned in 2009 with the two-part Christmas specials Return to Cranford: Part One - August 1844 (2009) and Return to Cranford: Part Two - October 1844 (2009).

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