Sunday 15 March

7.00-8.00pm BBC ONE

James Dowland is confined to his hospital bed when his son, Sidney, arrives in Candleford, as BBC One’s adaptation of Flora Thompson’s childhood memoirs concludes.

Dorcas welcomes the child into the Post Office, encouraging Laura and Ruby to do everything they can to make him feel at home there. As Sidney is introduced to the colourful characters of Candleford and the charming folk in Lark Rise, he becomes quite an object of local fascination. When James is at last released from hospital, however, he clashes with Dorcas over what’s in the best interests of the son he never knew he had.

Elsewhere, as the wedding of Thomas Brown and Miss Ellison fast approaches, anticipation and excitement grows among the people of Lark Rise and Candleford. Thomas is thrown into a torrent of uncertainty and anxiety by a few words from the common book of prayer, and Miss Ellison develops a strange disease of the skin which could be the result of her own anxieties. Will the betrothed couple ever make it down the aisle?

Jason Merrells plays James Dowland, Julia Sawalha plays Dorcas Lane, Olivia Hallinan plays Laura, Victoria Hamilton plays Ruby Pratt, Mark Heap plays Thomas Brown and Sandy McDade plays Miss Ellison.

Sunday 15 February

The arrival in Candleford of a well-to-do woman from London throws James Dowland into something of a spin, as BBC One’s adaptation of Flora Thompson’s childhood memoirs continues. It seems that the life he has lived since he left Lark Rise has not been as straightforward as he has so far portrayed, and some extraordinary revelations about his past threaten the very fabric of his trusting relationship with Dorcas.

When Emma’s father comes to Lark Rise, meanwhile, he stirs up emotions throughout the hamlet. The prospect of him remaining in the End House, however, does not go down well with Robert. And Old Edmund’s fondness for Queenie causes quite a rivalry between him and Twister, and a long-kept secret about Queenie and Twister’s relationship is revealed.

Jason Merrells plays James Dowland, Julia Sawalha plays Dorcas Lane, Claudie Blakley plays Emma Timmins, Brendan Coyle plays Robert Timmins, Paul Freeman plays Old Edmund, Linda Bassett plays Queenie Turrill and Karl Johnson plays Twister Turrill.

There are changes afoot for the residents of Lark Rise and Candleford tonight, as the popular adaptation of Flora Thomson’s memoir of her Oxfordshire childhood continues.

When an accident happens on the path joining Lark Rise with Candleford, Dorcas Lane and James Dowland clash once again.

The death of Miss Ellison’s father unites the two communities but, amongst (more…)

“In her wonderful evocation of Victorian life, Flora Thompson writes that the people she grew up with “had never lost the secret of being happy on little”. In our age of frenetic appetite, that seemed to me to be something worth dramatising.

“What struck me first about the books was how they are teeming with wonderful characters and anecdotes. I knew immediately that this was crying out not to be the familiar four-part dramatisation of a classic novel, but to be a distinctive (more…)