Elizabeth Gaskell Box Set DVD

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Wives and Daughters:
After years as a widower, village doctor Mr Gibson has decided to remarry - something for which his naive daughter, Molly, is wholly unprepared.

Soon Molly's world is overturned by the arrival of an unwanted stepmother and a bewitching and beautiful stepsister, Cynthia. In spite of their differences, the two girls quickly form a close relationship. The strength of this friendship is soon to be tested however, when the girls become rivals in love...and matters are further complicated when a dangerous secret emerges from Cynthia's past...with serious consequences for them both.

Cranford:
1842. Cranford, a market town in the North West of England, is a place governed by etiquette, custom and above all, an intricate network of ladies. It seems that life has always been conducted according to their social rules, but Cranford is on the cusp of change...

For spinsters Deborah Jenkyns, the arbiter of correctness in Cranford, and Matty, her demurring sister, the town is a hub of intrigue - a handsome new doctor Frank Harrison from London has arrived; a retired Army Captain and his daughters have moved in to a house opposite and the preparations for Lady Ludlow's garden party are underway. Everyone - from charming rogue Dr Marshland to mean Mrs Jamieson and her lap dog - talks, and is talked about, behind closed doors.

The town also has its secrets which it slowly reveals: Matty's encounter with an old flame at the garden party; Lady Ludlow's land agent Mr Carter teaching a gypsy lad to read and write; the wild expectations of the May Day celebrations and - news that shakes the town when it is revealed - a railway line from Manchester is coming to Cranford.

North and South:
As the daughter of a middle-class parson, Margaret Hale has enjoyed a privileged upbringing in rural southern England. But when her father uproots the family, she is forced to adapt to a new life in Milton - a northern mill town in the throes of the industrial revolution.

Margaret is shocked by her new surroundings - the dirt, noise and gruffness of the people of Milton. However, she saves her greatest contempt for the mill-owners. When John Thornton, charismatic proprietor of Marlborough Mills, becomes a 'pupil' of her father, she makes her distaste for this vulgar and uneducated new class abundantly clear.

Over time, Margaret's attitude towards the mill workers begins to change and she joins their workplace struggles against poverty and disease. But will she ever change her view of their employers - in particular, John Thornton who has secretly become her admirer?