Jasmine Sahu is well suited with this new American drama exclusive to Dave.
Lois Cameron explains why this series is much more than your average cosy period drama.
The last episode of this series sees Sherlock and Moriarty attempt to solve the final problem with devastating consequences.
With major cast changes afoot, Jacob Martin ponders whether Being Human can live up to its own scarily high standard.
Sunday tea-time stalwart Lark Rise to Candleford is back for its fourth and probably final series, and, apart from Ruby’s return from Pontefract and the absence of Robert Timmins, things are pretty much as they were at the end of series three: Laura continues to make puppy-dog eyes at the cute, if slightly pompous, Daniel; Alf is still aware that Minnie is amazing; and Dorcas is once again maintaining the values of the post office while interfering in the lives of everyone in an eight mile radius.
Of course there is much to mock about this opening episode. The introduction of yet another good-looking, single man to Candleford is handled with about as much subtlety as you’d expect. For about the millionth time, we’re teased with the idea that Dorcas might realise that her meddling could rub people up the wrong way, but once again she eventually decides that, actually, she does know best. The people of Lark Rise are all unquestionably good, salt-of-the-earth types who rally round each other in times of hardship. And, most of all, there’s a gaping hole in the episode that’s normally filled by the charisma of Brendan Coyle as Robert Timmins, who is “working in Oxford”, which of course means “being a butler at Downton Abbey”.
But, to criticise Lark Rise to Candleford for all these things is to seriously miss the point. It’s the televisual equivalent of a duvet and a cup of tea, but it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. And underneath the soft focus and quaint storytelling, there often lie real hints of sadness for many of these characters. The sublime Mark Heap and Sandy McDade knock it out of the park on a weekly basis as the pious Thomas and sweet Margaret, who here lavish ridiculous attention on their new dog to make up for the pain of not being able to have a child. And Victoria Hamilton and Matilda Ziegler consistently offer both comedy and heartbreak as the Pratt sisters, who cling to each other to forget their awful childhoods and can't even manage to take love when it's offered to them. In Lark Rise, things are even worse, as they all live just one sick day or lost postal order away from potential eviction.
And, at the centre of it all, Julia Sawalha is rather brilliant as post mistress Dorcas Lane, whose interference in the lives of others helps her to forget that her life isn’t all that perfect. Sawalha plays her with a real twinkle in her eye, especially when she’s admitting to her many “one” weaknesses: throughout the course of the first three series, the shift away from Laura and towards Dorcas was undoubtedly the right move. Her latest love interest, Gabriel Cochrane, is ably played by Richard Harrington, and if this is indeed the last series of Lark Rise, her happy ending it being signalled from several miles off. But my absolute favourite character is dear, sweet, clumsy, wonderful Minnie. Ruby Bentall plays an absolute blinder as the maid with a tragic past – her innocent admiration of Gabriel’s “manliness” made me laugh like a drain, and her developing romance with Alf has been a joy to watch.
The televisual equivalent of a duvet and a cup of tea, undoubtedly, but a great big warm duvet and an expertly brewed cup of tea. And sometimes, that’s all I want.
The fourth series of Lark Rise to Candleford continues tonight at 8pm on BBC1.
You must log in to submit a comment.
