Larkrise to Candleford

[diddl]

Anyone watching at the moment?

Does it look as if the actress who plays Ruby is pregnant?

Victoria Whatesername? No, but I did think Emma had a bit of a bump.

I thought that last week diddl.

Wasn't it sad this week?

I thought it more last week, and this week there weren´t any clear views of her.

Yes, it was a sad one.
Blöödy harsh lives some had.
And things we take for granted today.

I was thinking about that, too, diddl, with reference to vaccination. Imagine not having had the measles and knowing it would likely get you the next time it swept through, and could kill you, too! So horrible. I was quite moved when Dorcas said she had been given so much, and couldn't bear to have it taken away.

I have thought for a few episodes that Ruby looked either pregnant, or that she has recently had a baby and was breastfeeding or something. Her boobs looked really big and I was thinking "They look like breastfeeding boobs!"

I missed last night's but will watch it on iplayer, but I must say I haven't been impressed with this series at all. It's all been about Robert's pride (Yes we get the message! He's a proud man!) His wife being above them all, and silly misunderstandings between Thomas and his new wife. It's getting very samey. And where has Alf's girlfriend Nan gone to? She seems to have vanished and nobody has mentioned her. Very strange!

I agree about the 'Robert's pride' thing, very boring by now!

Am liking Twister more and more though.

Unfortunately I can't watch it any more without thinking of the Victoria Wood Christmas special "Lark Pies to Cranchesterford".

"And where has Alf's girlfriend Nan gone to? She seems to have vanished and nobody has mentioned her"

True - but Dh has missed her iyswim .

she was in some other period drama where she was a lady of loose morals. cannot remember name.

FAR more fun than listening to Alf's wittering.

Robert very sanctimonious. Is Ruby the housemaid - I am not very good with names, or is she one of the dressmaking sisters ?

Think the actress playing Laura is so pretty.

Ruby is the younger sister with the dark hair.

Minnie is the maid (and she's excellent imo).

Oh I surely do love Minnie! Her and Twister are the best characters at the mo. I used to really like Thomas and his Mrs but they are getting on my nerves a bit now.

Although I did have to laugh at Thomas & his wife "endeavouring"

Yes, getting a bit samey though.

I wonder how far from the books it has strayed?

I've got the book here somewhere. Most of the characters are mentioned and there are little snippets about their lives but a lot of it is more 'historical' iyswim, interesting stuff about the customs of the time. For instance, how people were so poor that the vicar's wife (or daughter, can't quite remember) would keep a box of baby clothes that she'd made, and whenever a woman in the hamlet was ready to have a baby she would be given the box. When her baby outgrew everything it would be given back ready for the next family. Also remember for some reason that Emma was thought to be a bit 'above herself' because her daughter's bloomers had lace edging! (re-used from cast-off dresses given to her when she was in service).
Actually, lots of stuff about being in service, how they had to send the eldest daughter away to work when she got to 11 as they couldn't afford to feed the younger ones otherwise.

Anyway, it's well worth a read.

Should say there is quite a bit about Laura's family, but the others don't have as much detail as the tv version.

Grr, I keep remembering bits of it now, am going to have to go and re-read!

There was lots of detail about how they collected the bits of grain that were dropped and made it into flour to keep them in bread for the year. They would be really proud and keep their bag of flour on display to impress the neighbours! So, the BBC have used that bit but combined it with the measles part for dramatic effect. I'll shut up now and go and find my book. Got a horrible feeling I lent it to someone...

Yes I think Ruby is pregnant too. I read the Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy years ago and recently found another of hers in library I'm now reading. Her nature writing, poetry and her life in the postal service after she left Gloucestershire and moved to Hampshire. The books are autobiographical almost and so are in the non fiction sections. About her life as a child in the 1880s and 1890s and after. I like the fact she doesn't see country life through rose coloured spectacles. It was terribly hard life for most of them. Living in near starvation most of the time. Her father was not from the village but from Oxford and so was always a misfit. She only died in 1947 and wrote almost all that time. As a child she read Gaskell's Cranford out loud to her uncle.

I loved the first series so much I bought the DVD, but I can't be arsed with it now.

I just don't get why we're supposed to be interested in the weekly strops of a grumpy man moaning on about his pride.

They aren't even a plausible couple imo, she looks more like Laura's sister then her mum.

They've taken the orange lighting too far, and the sunny dappled dancing etc.

Victoria Wood absolutely nailed it didn't she

Lark rise to Candleford is my one weakness

I still laugh when I think of Walt's big puddle and "if you want to smirk, do it outside"

Why doesn't Dorcus say that anymore? was my favourite bit, and YES totally agree about the Robert/Pride thing

I still love it though.

Yup, too much dancing!

But after watching last night I´m sure that the actress who plays Ruby is pregnant.

And now she´s left?

How odd-just to go off to a man you don´t know!

She's been corresponding with "Lionel" from Pontefract for ages, diddl; maybe it's no worse than an arranged marriage, where they don't see one another beforehand. I do have to wonder, though, who will "chaperone" her until any wedding can take place.

Yes I suppose they had been writing for a while.
But it was the "chaperone" aspect I was also thinking of.
And that he never visited at all before she went.

Yes cat64 Tom Conti?

Think in the first Cranford Martin Shaw was the brother?