South Riding (DVD)

Andrew Davies' sparkling adaptation of Winifred Holtby's acclaimed novel. Insightful, warm and full of memorable characters, South Riding tells a fraught love story and paints a panoramic portrait of a between-the-wars Yorkshire community. In depression-hit Thirties Britain, Sarah Burton returns from London to her Yorkshire hometown to take up the post of headmistress at a struggling girls' school. Full of ambition, she is determined to create a great school and inspire her girls. As Sarah struggles against the crippling poverty of the district, she meets those at the heart of the local community: her brilliant but poor student, Lydia Holly
the county's first woman Alderman, Mrs Beddows, whose sensible demeanour belies a girlish heart
the noble but ludicrous Methodist preacher, Councillor Huggins
Sarah's socialist suitor Joe Astell and the proud, haunted and almost ruined landowner, Robert Carne - a man Sarah finds herself drawn towards even though he stands for everything she detests... Engrossing and entertaining, South Riding vividly brings to life a rural community on the brink of change.