Lark Rise to Cranford

Am I alone in confusing these two gentle BBC country period dramas? They are both set in the 19th Century - Lark Rise c1890, Cranford a little earlier as the railways are being built. Lark Rise is an Oxfordshire hamlet, Candleford the small town - a whole episode was taken up with measuring the distance between them. Cranford is set in Cheshire, but uses a Wiltshire town to film in, and the accents are often confused between Somerset - the generic country English accent which makes me angry - and the rightful Northern. Lark Rise and Candleford are film sets near Bristol, but the high street of Candleford looks almost identical to Cranford.

Also too similar are the cast, the same round of faces of period dramas, such as Greg Wise who we first saw in such a role in 1996's Sense and Sensibility. There are actresses in common to both programmes - Claudie Blakley and Julia Sawalha. There should be a law preventing this, especially when one plays similar characters.

Both are literary adaptations, each conflating three novels set in more idyllic decades past. Lark Rise to Candleford is sometimes classed as biography by Flora Thomson, who really was the deputy postmistress and daughter of the formidable, pride ridden Timmins. Despite each novel having a young woman as narrator and therefore a particular perspective, both are ensemble casts and the story each time is split between varying characters.

And both are that low certificate, comforting Christmas time drama which seem to thrive.

What is comforting about them is that the cast are cross generational. Christmas TV guides this year have focussed on the older women of Cranford, commenting on their natural looks, which is a refreshing contrast to the artificial looks and pressures for other (often younger) media faces.

The purity of them is also a comfort. Series one of Cranford was rated as a 12 because of a few gory doctor related scenes, but normally they are U/PG; no violence, swearing, sex, or horror. It is not so much family viewing as I would be surprised if children find them appealing, but there is nothing to offend. The strictest relations can be invited to watch these in the assurance that no unseemly morals or scenes will mar their viewing. Great for supporters of Mary Whitehouse. And in a sense, it is good that such shows are popular and are being made by the BBC. The theme tunes are also restful, Cranford especially undulates with peaceful old fashioned wholeness and that lovely deep stringed bass.

But I find them innocuous, and safe viewing is not always interesting or challenging.
If there was consistently more of a story then I would be glad to say that drama can be made without disturbing scenes. Many of us live without violence and horror, and still have interesting lives - so why do we not want to watch lives like our own? But Lark and Cranford can be rather dull, and often their idea of threat and calamity are trifles to inane to record.

If television is escape, then Lark et al offers escapism and vicarious enterntainment - not through tensions we are glad we are not living, but in reverse: it is yearning for simpler, purer lives. In contrast to technology driven thrillers, these are worlds without our modern gadgets. I don't miss mobiles and the internet in older dramas. There's no CCT or microchips in your bins here. Community and friendships are important. But there's little mention of God. Lark Rise has the vicar's daughter - but not a vicar - and her fiancée the postman, who are both stout Christians. The vicar's part in Cranford is not huge, and the characters' goodness comes without reference to God or religion.

Their lives are easily recognisable today, despite the time setting being so different. Anyone experiencing village life will see these shows as only too familiar. The post office knows all your business, and strangers practically need ID for the stop and interrogation likely by anyone you meet walking down the street. Today we have the addition of the bus stop and the Co-op supermarket (or Coop), and the library for chatting and people watching. I spent Christmas in Framlingham, Suffolk, close to Cransford which I often get Cranford confused with, though Cransford is a village. There is even a house nearby called Lark Rise. Framlingham is just the right size for a Candleford or Cranford, with a bi weekly market and a definite centre to bump into all your cronies in. There are dozens of big villages and small towns that would also suffice as Cranford/Candlefords, old ones with several shops that can be fairly self sufficient. I was alarmed and amused how much I could glean about the town by going round the supermarket - who'd been away at Christmas, who'd got stuck in the Channel Tunnel during the snow. The dress shop was a far cry from the prim sisters Pratt of Candleford, and the proprietor was charming.

Having spent over a year in very rural Suffolk (even more remoter that Lark Rise) but a city girl at heart, I find wry entertainment in LR/C, but also irritation. Most of the ladies of are full of silly foibles and a ridiculous nosiness as well as a suffocating small mindedness. I can see why the excellent and (in recent episodes, underused) Miss Mary Smith left the little town for London to pursue her career and meet wider society. With her, I can see that the country is one's haven, but a city must be my home.