Cranford: Return to Cranford

                Not too long after the run of Cranford, Cranford: Return to Cranford was created.  Nearly all of the original cast returned for this mini-series, and some new characters were added as well.  The main themes also remained the same.  Once again, the stories and lives of these characters were surrounded by love, death, and the train.

                Now that her brother has returned, Matty Jenkyns (Judi Dench) no longer has to worry so much about money.  Instead, Matty spends her time happily caring for the daughter of her housekeeper and enjoying the town as it is.  To make things even better, an old family has returned to town.  They had gone away for awhile, moving to the sea in hopes of improving the health of their matriarch.  Now that she has died, the family has returned, bringing with them a feud between father and son about what the son’s future should be.  William (Tom Hiddleston) wants to be an engineer for the railroad, but his father, Mr. Buxton (Jonathan Pryce), wants him to become a politician.  To make matters worse, William has fallen in love with a local girl, Peggy (Jodie Whittaker), someone his father deems completely unsuitable for his son’s supposed political career.  Upset over how his father is trying to run his life, William leaves his home and joins the railroad, where he secretly writes his love to Peggy in hopes of keeping them together.          

                In the meantime, Matty is forced to deal with the loss of the child she loved.  Her mother, Martha (Claudie Blakley), died in childbirth, and her father, Jem (Andrew Buchan), takes the girl away with him as he tries to find a place with more steady work.  With as heartbroken as Matty is, it is fortunate that her friend Mary (Lisa Dillon) comes for a visit.  Mary helps Matty deal with all that is going on in the town while serving as a comfort during Matty’s grief. 

                One of the things happening in the town is the shunning of one of Matty’s friends.  Mrs. Jamieson (Barbara Flynn) is being visited by her aristocratic sister-in-law, Lady Glenmire (Celia Imrie).  Despite her friends’ offers, Mrs. Jamieson has no interest in having them come over and entertain Lady Glenmire during her visit.  She believes these ladies are too low in society to be honored with Lady Glenmire’s company, and that instead, she and her sister-in-law will be visiting the homes of those much more established in society.  Little does Mrs. Jamieson know, Lady Glenmire would much prefer the company of those from the town, which is why she gets concerned when no one comes around.  Not understanding why no one has come to meet her, Lady Glenmire decides to send out invitations herself.  It is when these invitations are accepted that the ladies (including Matty) learn about the true Lady Glenmire.  It seems Mrs. Jamieson has far exaggerated the life of this woman, as well as her social standing.  Once these misunderstandings are cleared up, Lady Glenmire and the ladies of the town become friends.  At least they do until she secretly marries Captain Brown (Jim Carter), a man who works for the railroad.  This causes a rift amongst the ladies, with some accepting the marriage and others refusing to have anything to do with the couple at all.          

                Also happening is the story of Harry (Alex Etel), a boy who came into money upon the death of the generous land agent who had taken Harry under his wing.  Part of what Harry inherited was the chance to go away to school, but he has chosen to run away from it.  Everyone around him, especially his friend, Miss Galindo (Emma Fielding), tries to get him to go back.  They don’t understand that the reason he ran away and why he does not want to return is because of the beatings and abuse he regularly gets from the other boys.  It is a situation Harry no longer wants to be in, but it takes him quite awhile to tell the whole story.  Until then, all anybody sees is Harry not getting the education he deserves.  Desperate to not return to school, Harry sees his only solution is to run off and never be found again.               

                As I did when I wrote about Cranford, there are many storylines I am leaving out.  Peggy’s awful brother, the conflict over the railroad (again), the mix-up with the birdcage, and the cow.  Those are just some of the things that happen in these two episodes which don’t quite equal three hours.  The reason there are so many stories is because something is always going on in this town.  When there isn’t, the gossips make it up.  I don’t know how many times I found myself shaking my head at the gossips as they strung together the most baseless of facts in order to make something out of nothing.  One thing they did not make up, however, was the arrival of the magician Signor Brunoni (Tim Curry) for the reopening of the assembly hall.  Even before they decided to refurbish and reopen the assembly hall, the possible arrival of Signor Brunoni was the talk of the town.  It was something that was slipped in every once in awhile, but until I actually saw Mr. Curry appear on screen, I was not fully sure what people were talking about.  They just kept bringing up a magician.  When he finally came on screen, I was very happily surprised to find the magician was being played by Mr. Curry.  He was someone I had definitely not expected to see, as I did not see his name in the credits, and most of the work I have seen him in are comedic pieces.  To see him in a period piece was really exciting and it makes me want to look further into other work he has done.

Although, now that I think about it, I really should not have been too surprised to see Mr. Curry in this mini-series.  With all the different things that happened, and the vast number of people that starred in either this segment or the previous segment of Cranford, I can easily say, that when it comes to the town of Cranford, you never know what is going to happen next.