Lark Rise to Candleford (TV series)

In Lark Rise, Emma Timmins has a fifth child, and concerned about how they are to feed five children, arranges for her oldest daughter, Laura, to be apprenticed at the post office of the nearby town of Candleford. Laura is welcomed by the post-mistress Dorcas Lane (who is a relative of her mother's), but others, particularly, Zillah, are not so welcoming. This episode sets up many of the major players; Dorcas Lane, Zillah, Thomas the postie, Sir Timothy and Lady Adelaide, the Pratt sisters etc who will feature in forthcoming episodes.

Caroline is called into court for the non-payment of debts. Her son, Alf, pawns his melodion in order to pay to save her from the debtors prison and Robert Timmins speaks up for her character in court.

A concert is to be held at the church in Lark Rise, but Robert Timmins does not want his children to sing songs in favour of the Tories. Old Amos hires a housekeeper, Patty, from the work house. She turns out to be very capable at cooking and cleaning. Old Amos believes Patty to be in love with him but Patty and Young Amos, his son, have fallen in love. Old Amos asks Patty to marry him, and the young couple reveal their love for each other. Old Amos is mortified and furious, driving Patty out of the house and she sets off back to the Work House. Dorcas later persuades Amos to allow Patty and Young Amos to be together.

Matthew finds an old tramp (Phil Davis) in the woods and brings him back to the post office. The man says he is Arthur Ashlow, in Candleford searching for his two daughters - Ruth and Prudence. Whilst unveiling their new fashion showcase, the Pratt sisters are publicly humiliated. Ruby recognises Ashlow as her long-lost father and falls over the showcase in front of the townsfolk. She tells her sister that she had seen a ghost. Ruby and Pearl are the Ruth and Prudence Mr Ashlow has been searching for - they have been hiding from him since he last ran away with all their money and they had to start all over again in Candleford. He has been sending them letters, which Pearl has been hiding from her softer-hearted sister. Ruby persuades Pearl to give their father another chance. They attempt to introduce him properly to Dorcas and Laura, but find Ashlow and all their savings gone.

A new Post Office inspector by the name of Rushton (Ben Daniels) comes to inspect in Candleford. Dorcas Lane grows increasingly angry with him and his ruthless, heartless efficiency and his insistence on the letter of the law when it comes to post office regulations. She begins to taunt him with his loveless life. Meanwhile, Thomas Brown is asked to preach at the local church and falls foul of the new inspector for not doing the Sunday delivery. Robert Timmins is given a job by Sir Timothy Midwinter after creating a beautiful carving on the church. The job is a long-term one ensuring his family's future and defusing his wife's anger over him spending so much time on a carving he was not paid for.

Robert takes pity on a homeless family and brings them to stay for the night, but they leave their daughter, Polly, behind, hoping for a better life for her than one on the road. Lady Adelaide is charmed by the girl and wants to adopt her but Sir Timothy forbids her to do so. When she defies him, he smuggles Polly out of the house in the night and takes her to Dorcas to hide her from his wife. Dorcas is horrified at being asked to connive against Lady Adelaide, but agrees to hide the child until a more suitable solution can be found. Meanwhile Thomas is keeping everyone at the post office awake as he is suffering from insomnia and tempers are becoming frayed. The cause of the insomnia is his undeclared love for Miss Ellison, the vicar's daughter. Dorcas tries to speed the affair along by sending a letter to Miss Ellison pretending it is from Thomas. Miss Ellison responds by copying out a love poem about lovers divided by cruel fate, but unfortunately Thomas delivers it to Sir Timothy who thinks it's from Dorcas.

Susan Braby's husband Sam gives her a black eye and she asks Sir Timothy to arrest him. This divides the residents of Lark Rise, some of whom think she has done the right thing and others who think that they should stick to their own and not report each other to the law. Susan asks her husband to take the Temperance pledge but he refuses, so she allows the court case to go ahead and he is jailed. She discovers that he has stolen all of her savings to fund his drink habit and she has no choice but to take herself and her children to the work house. Meanwhile, Timothy commissions Matthew to make new gates for the manor and Lady Adelaide finds a new way to exact revenge for the loss of Polly. She cancels the commission and pays Matthew off. Sir Timothy is furious and they have a huge row which ends with Adelaide running out of the house and into the woods. Laura takes Philip home to tea with her parents. Emma is delighted but Robert is not happy that his daughter is 'walking out' with a young man, particularly one that does not share his liberal views. Lady Adelaide is found in the woods by Queenie. When Lady Adelaide tells Queenie that she is ill, Queenie tells her that she is in fact pregnant. Lady Adelaide is delighted and when she meets Laura walking home from tea with her parents, she tells Laura about the pregnancy. Laura rushes back to the post office to tell Dorcas and Sir Timothy is there too ... this is news to him and clearly upsets Dorcas.

A new school-teacher is appointed at Lark Rise and falls instantly foul of the Pratt sisters after they see the books he has ordered via the post. Dorcas Lane goes to apologise to the teacher for the parcel of books being damaged and discovers that the teacher is a very good-looking man, called James Delafield. There is an instant attraction between them but any chance of romance is blighted by the Pratt sisters bringing accusations about James's suitability to teach young minds given the 'revolutionary' nature of his views and the fact that he is prepared to teach children in the pub at Lark Rise after the working day so they can carry on earning during the summer season. Sir Timothy brushes these accusations off initially but a further altercation between Pearl Pratt and James occurs, leading to an accusation by Pearl of assault. Alf's younger sister tries to run away to sea to find their father and 'steals' a sailor's hat from the Pratts' shop. James intervenes to stop Pearl beating the child in the street and Pearl accuses him of assault. James is effectively 'run out of town' because of this and Sir Timothy pulls strings to get him a teaching post in Manchester. While all this is going on, a storm flattens a tree on Sir Timothy's land and we find out that it is a special tree to Sir Timothy and Dorcas as it bore witness to their love - including their initials carved into it. Dorcas also points out that it was the tree they parted under as well. Lady Adelaide is not very sympathetic about the loss of the tree but suggests having a rocking horse made out of it for their unborn child.

An odd episode in which Queenie finds an elaborately embroidered picture of Eve tempting Adam with the proverbial apple - the hair on the figures was embroidered in human hair. Whether the picture is causing it or not, there are a lot of frayed tempers and cross words in Lark Rise and Candleford. Dorcas tells Sir Timothy they must stop meeting and he manages to 'bump into' her everywhere she goes, which makes her cross. Phillip challenges Alf to poach on Sir Timothy's land and Alf does so without being caught by Phillip - but Laura's younger brother, Edmund, has stolen his father's knife and followed Alf. Edmund is injured by falling on the knife and hides, fearing his father's anger. Sir Timothy and Dorcas separately try to find the maker of the embroidery and once the sad story of unrequited love is unfolded, it is agreed to put the embroidery back where it was found. Despite all Twister's dreams of affluence, he is not happy to profit from such a sad item. Edmund is eventually found by Alf and returned home where he recovers from his wound. But Phillip knows someone was poaching on the land and someone was injured. He accuses Alf in front of everyone in the pub at Lark Rise - but Alf demonstrably has no injury. Robert is angered again by Phillip's attitude towards the villagers and tries to forbid Laura to see him again.