North & South

This acclaimed British miniseries takes place in 19th-century England and follows the story of Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe), a privileged young woman who is uprooted from her comfortable Southern lifestyle when her family moves north to a mill town. Finding the conditions of the workers deplorable, Margaret is contemptuous of the mill's charismatic owner, John Thornton (Richard Armitage), even as she finds herself increasingly attracted to him. Sinead Cusack, Lesley Manville and Tim Pigott-Smith also star. 3 3/4 hrs. total on two discs. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; Subtitles: English; audio commentary; deleted scenes; interview.

North & South is a splendid, four-hour adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's 19th century novel about an unlikely, and somewhat star-crossed, love between a middle-class young woman from England's cultivated south and an intemperate if misunderstood industrialist in a hardscrabble, northern city. Daniela Denby-Ashe plays Margaret Hale, forthright and strong-willed daughter of a former vicar (Tim Pigott-Smith) who relocates his family from a pastoral village outside London to unforgiving, largely illiterate Milton, a factory town where John Thornton (Richard Armitage) and his mother (Sinead Cusack), survivors of poverty, rule their cotton mill with an iron hand. Thornton befriends Margaret's father but incurs her wrath for his severity with his workers. What she doesn't notice is Thornton's core sense of responsibility for his employees' welfare. On the other hand, he misinterprets some of Margaret's own actions and intentions. Equally stubborn, the two drag out their obvious attraction over many painful months and events.

North & South's two leads are both very good, though Armitage's brooding, penetrating performance may very well be considered a classic one day. There are other wonders in the cast: Cusack and Pigott-Smith are superb, and Brendan Coyle is memorable as a firebrand union organizer who ultimately becomes an ally to a softening Thornton. The miniseries script by Sandy Welch is a persuasive mix of historical context and character study. Brian Percival's direction is full of moments that linger in the imagination, such as the winter-dream look of a busy cotton mill, with thousands of snowy fibers floating in the air. --Tom Keogh