"North & South" (2004) TV mini-series

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

2 July 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

North and South is a four part adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's love story of Margaret Hale, a middle class southerner who is forced to move to the northern town of Milton.

Plot Keywords:

Prejudice | Cotton Mill | Marriage Proposal | Strike | Factory Accident

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Daniela Denby-Ashe	...	Margaret Hale (4 episodes, 2004)
Richard Armitage	...	John Thornton (4 episodes, 2004)
Tim Pigott-Smith	...	Richard Hale (4 episodes, 2004)
Sinéad Cusack	...	Hannah Thornton (4 episodes, 2004)
Brendan Coyle	...	Nicholas Higgins (4 episodes, 2004)
Anna Maxwell Martin	...	Bessy Higgins (4 episodes, 2004)
Jo Joyner	...	Fanny Thornton (4 episodes, 2004)
Pauline Quirke	...	Dixon (4 episodes, 2004)
Kay Lyon	...	Mary Higgins (4 episodes, 2004)
Lesley Manville	...	Maria Hale (3 episodes, 2004)
Brian Protheroe	...	Mr. Bell (3 episodes, 2004)
Rupert Evans	...	Frederick Hale (3 episodes, 2004)
John Light	...	Henry Lennox (3 episodes, 2004)
Emma Ferguson	...	Edith Shaw Lennox (3 episodes, 2004)
William Houston	...	John Boucher (3 episodes, 2004)
Jane Booker	...	Mrs. Shaw (3 episodes, 2004)
Lucy Brown	...	Ann Latimer (3 episodes, 2004)
Tom Charnock	...	Williams (3 episodes, 2004)
Tim Faraday	...	Mr. Watson (3 episodes, 2004)
Travis Oliver	...	Capt. Maxwell Lennox (3 episodes, 2004)
Caroline Pegg	...	Mrs. Boucher (3 episodes, 2004)
Will Tacey	...	Mr. Latimer (3 episodes, 2004)
David Crellin	...	Mr. Slickson (2 episodes, 2004)
Shaun Hennessey	...	Mr. Henderson (2 episodes, 2004)
Frank Lauder	...	Stephens (2 episodes, 2004)
Carl McCrystal	...	Henderson Worker (2 episodes, 2004)
Ian McHale	...	Stone (2 episodes, 2004)
Martin Walsh	...	Mr. Hamper (2 episodes, 2004)
Spencer Wild	...	Tom Boucher (2 episodes, 2004)

Runtime:

235 min (4 parts)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | UK:PG (parts 1-3) | UK:12 (part 4)

Filming Locations:

33 Portland Place, Marylebone, London, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The striped dress Daniela Denby-Ashe (Margaret Hale) wears in the final scene is the same costume previously worn in "Bleak House" (2005) by Gillian Anderson (Lady Dedlock) and in The Shadow in the North (2007) (TV) by Billie Piper (Sally Lockhart).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Margaret brings a basket of bread to the street where the Higgins family lives; one loaf is wrapped in plastic wrap.

Quotes:

John Thornton: Miss Hale, I didn't just come here to thank you. I came... because... I think it... very likely... I know I've never found myself in this position before. It's... difficult to find the words. Miss Hale, my feelings for you... are very strong...
Margaret Hale: Please! Stop. Pray, please don't go any further.
John Thornton: Excuse me?
Margaret Hale: Please don't continue in that way. It's not the way of a gentleman.
John Thornton: I'm well aware that in your eyes at least, I'm not a gentleman. But I think I deserve to know why I am offensive.
Margaret Hale: It offends me that you should speak to me as if it were your... duty to rescue my reputation!
John Thornton: I spoke to you about my feelings because I love you; I had no thought for your reputation!
Margaret Hale: You think that because you are rich, and my father is in... reduced circumstances, that you can have me for your possession! I suppose I should expect no less from someone in trade!
John Thornton: I don't want to possess you! I wish to marry you because I love you!
Margaret Hale: You shouldn't! Because I do not like you, and never have.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Story of the Costume Drama: Affairs of the Heart (#1.3)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Beginning

Brilliant adaptation

I had never read this book, but enjoy watching period dramas. I'm going to read the book now. I got into this in the first episode and I was gripped all the way through. I was rooting for Margaret and John to get together as it just had got to happen. Great portrayals by Sinead Cusack as John Thornton's mother and Jo Joyner as sister Fanny, she was funny. Brendan Coyle was great as Nicholas Higgins, showing us the worker's side of the story and what the unions were trying to do. Very believable acting from Richard Armitage as John Thornton and Daniela Denby-Ashe was lovely as Margaret. Thornton reminds me of similar sort of characters - Mr Rochester, Darcy. We need men like that.