Directed by Brian Percival. With Brendan Coyle, Tom Charnock, Richard Armitage, Daniela Denby-Ashe. Frederick safely reaches Spain. After her father's death, Margaret leaves Milton to live with her aunt in London. Thornton learns that Frederick is Margaret's brother. With the money that she inherited from Mr. Bell, her godfather, she decides to help Mr. Thornton's mill from closing.
There sure was a lot of deus ex machina in this short series which I’d best describe as a morality play set for the industrial revolution, but overall interesting and binge-able. Some excellent characters and development, but given that this was a book adaptation done over almost 4 hours it was well executed. A four part series was certainly a better way to go with this instead of a feature film. There are some interesting potential extensions to part of the plot here with relation to our currently changing culture with respect to economics and even social media that would be an interesting plot remake.
Brendan Coyle was excellent here and it’s relatively obvious that the prototype of this character was likely a solid reason to have cast him in as Bates in Downton Abbey later on. Sinéad Cusack was spectacular in a great but limited role–we’ll have to watch more of her earlier work. Daniela Denby-Ashe was well cast and spot on for the careful threading of this progressive, strong, and direct role. The true standout to me was Richard Armitage who does dark and brooding as well as anyone; I’d love to see more of his work.
