Clayhanger: The Complete Series (1976) (DVD)

A major series starring, amongst others, Janet Suzman, Peter McEnery, Harry Andrews, Denholm Elliott, Clive Swift and Denis Quilley, this stunning ATV-produced drama adapted the celebrated Clayhanger Family novels by Arnold Bennett, published between 1910 and 1918. The series is set in the Victorian-era Staffordshire Potteries, and follows the coming-of-age story of Edwin Clayhanger as he leaves school, takes up the running of the family business, and falls in love with the beautiful, determined Hilda Lessways. Originally screened in 1976, Clayhanger is available here for the first time in DVD format. It is July 1872, and in the 'Five Towns' of the Staffordshire Potteries, Edwin Clayhanger is attending school for the last time. Although his youthful ambition is to become an architect, expectation weighs heavily upon his shoulders
it is anticipated that Edwin will join the family's printing business, lovingly built up from scratch by his father, Darius. Edwin, however, is dreaming of a very different kind of future: his youthful ambition is to become an architect.