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Press Releases
Dame Judi Dench to star in 91Èȱ¬ One drama Cranford
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This press release was updated on 12.09.2007 to reflect the drama's new title, Cranford.
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Multi award-winning actress Judi Dench is to star in Cranford, a
new five-part drama serial created by Sue Birtwistle and Susie Conklin from
three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell for 91Èȱ¬ One.
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Scripted by Heidi Thomas (I Capture The Castle, Madam Bovary, Lilies), this
witty and poignant landmark drama captures the small absurdities and major
tragedies in the lives of the people of Cranford, as they are besieged by
forces they cannot hope to withstand.
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In 1842, Cranford is a small rural Cheshire town on the cusp of great changes.
Some people find romance and opportunities, while others fear the breakdown of
social order.
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Who will embrace the changes on offer by becoming modern?
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Three
Elizabeth Gaskell novels have been woven together to create this uniquely rich
and comic drama about ordinary human lives during the course of one
extraordinary year in this small town.
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Jane Tranter, Controller, 91Èȱ¬ Fiction, says: "To have Judi Dench, Sue Birtwistle
and Heidi Thomas on one drama serial is an honour for 91Èȱ¬ Drama.
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"Cranford is a beautifully big and ambitious period drama - just the way we
like them!
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"The logistics of mounting such a production have inevitably taken a
while to pull together, but the best things are well worth waiting for, and we
are all very excited at the prospect of such a piece, and of welcoming Judi
Dench back to the 91Èȱ¬."
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Dame Judi will play Miss Matty Jenkyns, whose hopes and lively spirit were
crushed when she was forced as a young woman to give up the man she loved and
to live afterwards in the shadow of her elder sister, Deborah, the arbiter of
correctness in Cranford.
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Judi Dench says: "I am so excited to be doing Cranford. A summer of
fun to look forward to!"
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Producer Sue Birtwistle was the force behind the highly-acclaimed
television productions of Pride And Prejudice and Wives And Daughters.
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She says: "Five years ago, I made a wish: to be allowed to conjure an entirely new drama
out of three Elizabeth Gaskell novels, and to persuade Judi Dench to play Miss
Matty. Dream come true. Is one allowed to be this lucky?"
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Further casting is to be announced.
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The drama serial is produced by 91Èȱ¬ Drama Production and WGBH in association with Chestermead Ltd.
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Cranford begins filming in April 2007 in the Cotswolds and London.
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The producer is Sue Birtwistle; executive producer is Kate Harwood for 91Èȱ¬
Drama Production.
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Notes to Editors
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91Èȱ¬ Drama Productions are world leaders in classic, period adaptation.
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Cranford will follow critically-acclaimed classics such as Bleak
House, To The Ends Of The Earth, Jane Eyre, The Way We Live Now, Our Mutual
Friend and Andrew Davies' adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives And
Daughters.
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AF
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