North & South

<I>North & South</I> is a splendid, four-hour adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskells 19th century novel about an unlikely, and somewhat star-crossed, love between a middle-class young woman from Englands cultivated south and an intemperate if misunderstood industrialist in a hardscrabble, northern city. Daniela Denby-Ashe plays Margaret Hale, forthright and strong-willed daughter of a former vicar (Tim Pigott-Smith) who relocates his family from a pastoral village outside London to unforgiving, largely illiterate Milton, a factory town where John Thornton (Richard Armitage) and his mother (Sinead Cusack), survivors of poverty, rule their cotton mill with an iron hand. Thornton befriends Margarets father but incurs her wrath for his severity with his workers. What she doesnt notice is Thorntons core sense of responsibility for his employees welfare. On the other hand, he misinterprets some of Margarets own actions and intentions. Equally stubborn, the two drag out their obvious attraction over many painful months and events. <p> <I>North & South</I>s two leads are both very good, though Armitages brooding, penetrating performance may very well be considered a classic one day. There are other wonders in the cast: Cusack and Pigott-Smith are superb, and Brendan Coyle is memorable as a firebrand union organizer who ultimately becomes an ally to a softening Thornton. The miniseries script by Sandy Welch is a persuasive mix of historical context and character study. Brian Percivals direction is full of moments that linger in the imagination, such as the winter-dream look of a busy cotton mill, with thousands of snowy fibers floating in the air. <I>--Tom Keogh</I>