Pearl is in a state of panic. She’s received a dressmaking commission from Lady Whiteleaf which could save her ailing business, but without Ruby there is no way she can do the work in time. That is, until Enid, a seamstress looking for a position, arrives in Candleford. Her needlework is exquisite and Pearl’s prayers seem to have been answered.

In the post office, Dorcas is excitedly showing off her brand-new, state-of-the-art kitchen range, with which she plans to cook a sumptuous Michaelmas feast. But when the range keeps mysteriously breaking down, Dorcas loses her customary cool. She becomes determined to master its secrets if it’s the last thing she does.

As Pearl and Enid work, the two women forge a touching friendship. Pearl feels free to be herself with Enid and share confidences about her life, while Enid is in awe of Pearl’s independence and strength of character. Enid seems completely at home in Candleford, a place where she feels women can be their own masters. But Dorcas is troubled by the speed of Pearl’s attachment to her new friend, and worries that all is not what it seems with Enid.

When the first part of Enid and Pearl’s dressmaking commission meets with the approval of Lady Whiteleaf and they are invited for dinner, Pearl is euphoric. They excitedly plan their outfits, but Pearl’s joy turns to shock and outrage when Enid turns up wearing trousers! Enid tries to recruit Pearl to her cause – to free women from the confines of their restrictive clothing – but a mortified Pearl throws her out of the shop.

When Pearl discovers that Enid is, in fact, a runaway wife and that her husband is offering a reward for her return, her sense of betrayal and humiliation is complete. Enid tells the women of Candleford the story of her stifling marriage and thwarted ambitions, while Pearl storms off to Inglestone to inform Enid’s husband of her whereabouts. But when Pearl encounters Thomas, Daniel and Sydney on the road, she pauses to reflect on her actions, and begins to regret her rejection of Enid. Just then, the seamstress herself turns up and tells Pearl a few home truths about her behaviour, and how it isolates her from her neighbours. But will Pearl be able to forgive Enid, and learn how to be a true friend?

Episode 9
Sunday 7th March 2010

When the Lark Rise school loses its teacher, Emma steps in and discovers a talent she never knew she had. But Margaret, too, feels she is perfectly suited to the role, and an unexpected rivalry springs up. For Margaret, teaching offers a much-needed distraction from the heartbreak of remaining childless; while for Emma it is the chance to feel valued for something other than being a wife and mother.

Over in Candleford, Dorcas and Thomas are also at odds. Thomas is agitating about his working conditions but, when Dorcas won’t take his grievances seriously, he decides to start a union: The Candleford Post Office Letter Carriers Association, or CaPOLCA. Laura and Minnie are reluctant to join, but Thomas becomes increasingly militant, and relations between him and Dorcas go rapidly downhill.

Meanwhile, Minnie is on a mission to make herself beautiful so that Alf will notice her, and enlists the help of Laura and Dorcas to transform her. But Minnie’s new-found femininity suffers a blow when she falls over and gets a black eye. How can she face Alf now?

Despite the misgivings of their husbands, neither Margaret nor Emma will back down, so they are forced to share the role of schoolteacher. But, before long, they have set themselves up in competition with each other in their preparations for the school bazaar, with Emma heading up the boys’ team, and Margaret the girls’. Secretly, they both hope that if they perform their tasks well, it will be an opportunity to impress the school governors and further their teaching ambitions.

When Dorcas’s dispute with Thomas reaches childish proportions, she turns to Robert to arbitrate a solution. Robert’s intervention builds a bridge between them, and Thomas reveals the underlying reason for his dissatisfaction at work: his struggle to come to terms with Margaret’s apparent willingness to accept their childlessness and embrace a life dominated by work. The day of the school bazaar arrives, but which team will win the school prize and what will it mean for Margaret and Emma’s future plans?

Episode 9:
Emma steps in when the local school loses it’s teacher. Margaret wants the position as well and there is soon a rivalry between the two. Dorcas and Thomas find themselves at odds. Minnie is determined to make Alf notice her.

After that JD arrived, and he really didn’t do it for me at first, but he grew out on me, and especially in the ep where his business partner comes along. I thought it showed a more human part of him, a fuller personality.
And he’s leaving TOO. Ah! I can’t stand it. I want him back at least by the end of S3. Enough with Dorcas love interests, please, have her find hapiness at once!
In fact she didn’t even try to give him a second chance, they barely talked after the failed proposal. I think she should have at least tried to keep a little of the relationship going, and he definitely should have tried to go see her and not only send flowers.
But, if there really are only 3 seasons, I certainly hope he’ll be back by the end of it unless he really turns bad in the next 3 eps.

As for the rest, I LOVE Emma/Robert. Best married couple on TV ever. Twister and Queenie…they make my day, so funny. and Thomas! I shouldn’t be able to stand him, but I actually find him quite amusing.

I agree Dorcas and Sir Tim had better chemistry than that with JD. If JD came back I would like to see him up to his womanizing ways wiv a few other ladies. He’s better that way.

D was right to give him up but good to remain his friend as she sees that there is some good in him.

I have read the original books and agree that the as the series has developed the TV show has markedly diverged from the books,. But I am happy wiv that (even tho’ loved books too) and see them as separate entities. In this way the series can continue in new ways after the ‘story’ of the book has finished .

I’m wondering if Brendan Doyle and Claudie Blakley would be at all interested in devising a show along the lines of the old Apollo Society evenings. I remember seeing Dorothy Tutin, Richard Johnson and Max Adrian, wirth Ossian Ellios (harp) giving an evening of varied readings interspersed with music here in King’s Lynn – very popular.

In Norwich I know of a Country Music band which could provide that element, and the readings could range from excerpts from Francis Kilvert’s Diary. Thomas Hardy’s satires, John Clare, Rudyard Kipling. Claudie could revel in the social faux pas in a rural skating scene from Kilvert, and Brendan could give an audience the creeps with Hardy’s ghost poem, The Choirmaster’s Burial. These are just two off the top of my head.

Maybe they wouldn’t be interested, but I think that especially among the greyhaired theatre and concert going public such a show would give a lot of pleasure and pay its way.

Alf isn’t even IN the original book, Dorcas Lane is a portly middle aged lady with NO romantic attachments whatsoever, and Twister dies early on…in a single sentence.

It would never have made it to teevee, alas, had it been replicated rather than bastardised.

Read it, do yourselves a favour, you might actually learn something valuable.