Although 'North and South' has a plot which could be dismissed as pure Catherine Cookson - rich clergyman's daughter with family in reduced circumstances move from leafy Hampshire to smoky Milton (Manchester) where she makes friends with factory folk and has a love-hate relationship with the local squire (sorry, mill owner and magistrate) before she comes into money from father's old schoolfriend (who has a yen to marry her) and she saves the squire from bankruptcy by offering him a loan but marrying him instead - it really is done so well that you don't notice the implausibilities and creaks in storyline as you're watching.
With a cast who are firing on all cylinders - Daniela Denby-Ashe (Margaret), Lesley Manville (Margaret's mother), Tim Pigott-Smith (Margaret's father), Pauline Quirke (their servant Dixon), Richard Armitage (the mill-owner), Sinead Cusack (his mother), Brendan Coyle (a union man and mill-worker), Anna Maxwel-Martin (mill-worker's consumptive daughter), Brian Protheroe (friend of Margaret's father), and William Houston (strike-breaker) - 'North and South' can never be accused of being boring. It looks as if money has been spent on it as well, which makes all the difference.
With a cast who are firing on all cylinders - Daniela Denby-Ashe (Margaret), Lesley Manville (Margaret's mother), Tim Pigott-Smith (Margaret's father), Pauline Quirke (their servant Dixon), Richard Armitage (the mill-owner), Sinead Cusack (his mother), Brendan Coyle (a union man and mill-worker), Anna Maxwel-Martin (mill-worker's consumptive daughter), Brian Protheroe (friend of Margaret's father), and William Houston (strike-breaker) - 'North and South' can never be accused of being boring. It looks as if money has been spent on it as well, which makes all the difference.