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.

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 the sadness, Miss Ellison is confronted with her brother, George, and a past she would really rather forget. Divided between her Christian values and her obligations to her late father, Miss Ellison struggles to know whether to follow her heart or her head.

The road is falling apart and needs to be repaired; George soon becomes the talk of the town when he steps in to help the residents of Lark Rise. James, again wanting to utilise his business, is aggravated by George’s determination to “finish the job” without his help.

Meanwhile, overwhelmed with grief, Miss Ellison is oblivious to Thomas Brown’s affections for her and his desire for her hand in marriage. Dorcas and Emma do all they can to bring them together, but Miss Ellison must first learn how to forgive if she is to learn how to love.

Julia Sawalha plays Dorcas Lane, Jason Merrells plays James Dowland, Sandy McDade plays Miss Ellison, Oliver Dimsdale plays George, Mark Heap plays Thomas Brown and Claudie Blakely plays Emma Timmins.

Lark Rise To Candleford is also being simulcast on the BBC HD channel – the BBC’s High Definition channel available through Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media. With up to five times more detail than standard definition television, HD gives you exceptionally vivid colours and crisp pictures to make Lark Rise To Candleford a truly cinematic TV experience.

“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 Sunday night long-running drama series. There’s just so much going on in the three books that episode stories come tumbling off the pages thick and fast.

“What also struck me as uniquely appealing was that this was not a depiction of one community, but two. And how different they are! Whilst Lark Rise is gently holding onto the past, Candleford is busily bustling into the future.

“From this difference comes the conflict that is a never-ending source of dramatic stories, comic incident and torn relationships. Caught between these two worlds is Laura (Olivia Hallinan), a 16-year-old hamlet girl who goes to work in the Candleford Post Office when the arrival of another mouth to feed in her family means that she, the oldest, must leave.

“Lark Rise is poverty-stricken, life-loving and proud of its rural identity. Life here is spontaneous – they’re always ready to have a knees-up and “a bit of a tune” – and they are earthy.

“People make their meagre living off the land. Sometimes hunger bites. Sometimes a bit of poaching is called for. But the books remind us of other lost arts … like Spadgering, the catching of sparrows in nets for roasting, or the making of delicious puddings.

“Candleford, on the other hand, is impatiently improving itself. Commerce is burgeoning. Status and appearances matter. The windows of the local stores are packed with silk dresses and fine, hand-made shoes. The pursuit of modernity is nowhere more evident than in the Post Office, in an age of rapidly growing communications.

“The contrast between these two places can be amusing, touching or often absurd … but the pace of change can throw up cutting human dilemmas, like the first showdown in the series when the two communities fall out over the cost of a telegram.

“This kind of thing matters when news of a long-lost brother’s serious illness gets lost amongst Post Office regulations. Tensions spill over into open hostility, and Laura – newly arrived in Candleford – finds herself caught in the crossfire.

“Having found the form for the series, my main problem was how to people it. The difficulty was what and who to leave out! Lark Rise To Candleford is bursting with great characters.

“Laura herself is a delightful combination of simple country girl, feisty, intelligent and courageous, but – most endearingly – she’s insightful in ways that separate her. She loves the world she comes from, but she is outgrowing it fast as she makes her way into adulthood. And her parents know this … that, as much as the pressing hardship they live under, is why they sent her out into the world.

“Laura’s parents, Emma and Robert (Claudie Blakley and Brendan Coyle) are proud and generous people … sometimes too proud, and sometimes too generous. Robert’s idea of “the fellowship of man” leads him to bring tramps he finds in a ditch into his home.

“Caroline Arless (Dawn French) is larger than life in every way – she loves to throw up her skirts and dance, she spends every penny she has on “feathering the foam” … and some pennies she doesn’t have, too. Her zest for life is winning and often funny, but debtors’ prison is waiting for those who can’t keep up.

“Queenie and Twister (Linda Bassett and Karl Johnson) keep the hamlet in touch with a still-older way of life, one of bee-keeping, mead-making and eggling. It is a life informed by superstition, but also with hard-won understanding of the canny ways of survival.

“Candleford’s taste for the finer life gives its inhabitants an attitude. Zillah (Liz Smith), the Post Office’s crabby, gossipy old maid, warns Laura: “You’re in Candleford now, girl. This is not a farm yard!”

“Thomas (Mark Heap) the pious postman, demands of her: “Are you a Christian?” And the aloof and pretentious Pratt sisters (Matilda Zieger and Victoria Hamilton) proprietors of The Stores, look down their noses and caution the little country girl: “Be sure and don’t touch anything in our shop.”

“And then there is Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha) the Post Mistress, a woman ahead of her time, at the hub of the community, with a wry and provocative sense of humour. With a taste for idiosyncratic luxuries – warm rain water baths, buttermilk face-wash – Dorcas is over-fond of meddling in her neighbours’ affairs. Her own life – her own love life – is not as simple as it first appears.

“The Post Office itself is an important character in the make-up of the show: full of life, reaching out into the wider world, and bringing to it the foibles and frailties of the locals, not just of the town but of the surrounding countryside.

“As a writer, that journey from script to screen can be fraught with disappointments, compromises and frustrations … and, of course, a fair share of surprises and delights. We have a cast to die for, great performances in abundance, but one of the greatest boons came from the toughest challenge.

“Having written the two communities we then had to find them. Not easy, given the demands of a long-running series and its heavy schedule. Two pieces of brilliance gave us the answer.

“The first came from Nicolas Brown, director of BBC Drama Production. He simply said: “Why don’t we build them?” The second came with designer Malcolm Thornton (Our Mutual Friend). From a few farm buildings, Malcolm has created the most extraordinary world. Two worlds!

“Everyone who walks onto those sets is taken aback, not just by the authenticity and the loving detail, but the beauty of it. In the detail, in that beauty is the evocation of what Flora Thompson gave us in her love letter to a vanished corner of rural England.”