Anyone else recently discovered North and South on iPlayer and fancy discussing/indulging me? I've also just read the book in 2 days!

[DuggeesWooOOooggle]

Don't know how I managed to miss this - it was first on a whole 14 years ago now and I think has been on several times since but somehow I have always been watching something else. Spotted it on iPlayer the other day while looking for something to watch and my goodness what have I missed?! It would have been a perfectly serviceable period drama, bit of social commentary and worthiness but they went and cast Richard Armitage! I had not really thought of him as sexy but my God the way he looks at her! I would have been unable to get out any of my lines if I were Daniella Denby-Ashe (and what has she been in recently?). He is just pure smouldering sex throughout the whole bloody thing.

And then I borrowed the book from the library on Thursday and have already finished it as I needed to compare the two. I was surprised that some bits where I thought they must have deviated from the book (eg both Thornton and Margaret getting chummy with Higgins and the great unwashed) were fairly well depicted. The final scene (and The Kiss!) were obviously vastly different but you couldn't really argue with it. Wish they had done the first meeting as in the book though, the way he is taken with her from the start is so beautifully written, especially the fact she is oblivious.

Anyone else just discovered this too or feel like indulging in a bit of chat about it?

I think Margaret would give as good as she got, Metheven!

I've just started watching Berlin Station - funnily enough I realize DH was watching it about a week ago and I was oblivious to Mr A (the bit I saw he was hidden under a baseball cap). I have absolutely no idea what is going on (apart from he's a spy and something about leaks) but I have already enjoyed a lovely shot of Mr A's bottom while he puts his pants on. Not sure about his American accent though!

I'll watch this and then get all sad when it is over that I have another 6 months before I can watch it again (bit like p&p). Loved the novel too, Julie Stevenson has recorded it for audible. Her recording of Middlemarch was also fucking great, brought it to life in way my inner reading voice couldn't, I disliked the book for years and it is now in my top 3.

Have you read/seen Persuasion too? The Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds version is fab. But the novel is also sooo great.

You can watch it more than once every 6 months, outta! Yes Persuasion is also a favourite- book and film. Such a poignant story about a woman who was invisible and superfluous to everyone else, and of course the gorgeous Captain Wentworth. Of course in the book the 'old spinster' Anne Elliott would have been about 25 or 26!

And Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne - 'you pierce my soul'. Sigh. I don't think my (very much loved) DH would be capable of writing a letter like that. God knows how he ever found the words to propose!!

Oh, it has been a long time since the last Richard Armitage thread!
I fell in love with him in North and South.
He was the only reason why I started watching Robin Hood.

frantically fans herself

He is so fine

Saw him in the Crucible at the Old Vic the other year (I made DH take me as an anniversary present where he took his shirt off was excellent. Sat next to Jude Law who, although pretty, isn't a patch on Mr A.

Recommend all of Spooks btw (even the rubbish series with Fiona and Adam), not just the RA ones. I cried at the very end - I'd been so emotionally caught up in the characters over the 10 series. Hermione Norris has one of the best FFS faces ever in one episode where her leather jacket gets ruined.

I like the fact you just drop in that you were sitting next to Jude Law! No contest though.

Glad that I now have 14 years of Richard Armitage back catalogue to go through (when available), how on earth has this man escaped my attention for so long.

I don't even mind that his middle name is Crispin.

I remember coming home from university and my mother telling me to sit down, be quiet and not interrupt the TV - not her usual style at all! And then I realised why...

He looked pretty damn good in Strike Back too.

Didn't he read some stories on CBeebies?

He was in the original Cold Feet series too. Briefly I think, as a lifeguard. He did appear topless but before he went to the gym, so not nearly as hunky.

Although I find him stirring (!) only when in character as Guy of G in RH or Mr Thornton. When I have seen him interviewed he does nothing for me. And if the rumours are true, I would do nothing for him.

Cbeebies you say?

I agree that it was jarring when he beat the mill worker, but I think it was important to underscore to us and to Elizabeth that he was not a "gentleman" entrepreneur, genteely managing his factory in between dinners and hunting parties while underlings enforced rules for him out of sight - he is a brutal, strong and fundamentally involved man, a world apart from what she is accustomed to.

I never quite understood how he managed to afford the factory in the first place (was it just that he had a lot of backers like Margaret's father's friend?). His father had left lots of debts so Thornton worked in clerking type jobs and saved and they lived in penury to pay it all back and then he managed to open a factory, still at a young age?

I love RA in this. It is one of my favourites and I watch it regularly.

RA also makes an appearance in The Vicar of Dibley.

Love him in North and South.

Guy of Gisborne was the only reason to watch Robin Hood! Why, oh why would anyone pick Robin when they could watch Guy take his leather off every day? I lost so much of my life to doing just that

Oh, the Vicar of Dibley, I had forgotten that. That deserves a re-watch immediately.

I briefly delved into Richard Armitage fan sites today and backed away quickly! Some seriously obsessed people out there!

Funnily enough some of the things I have googled, he doesn't look that hot in. I think he needs that 5 o clock shadow and the brooding eyes to really smoulder. A tailored suit helps

And his Sean Bean Yorkshire accent in North and South helps. He's not really nailing the American accent in Berlin Station but I'll forgive him

If you like Elizabeth Gaskell, I really liked Mary Barton. It plays up the social commentary and trade unionism but there's a really strong central relationship and lots of suspense.

I think I will give that a look Elizabeth, I've never been one for the Victorian era but it's growing on me!