The Elizabeth Gaskell collection
(DVD Set)

Title and credits from container.

Cranford: Created from three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell: Cranford, My Lady Ludlow and Mr. Harrison's confessions.

North & South extra features: Commentary on episodes 1 and 4 by Kate Bartlett, Brian Percival and Sandy Welch; specially recorded interview with Richard Armitage; deleted scenes and production notes.

Wives & daughters extra features: The making of Wives and daughters; Who the Dickens is Mrs. Gaskell?

Cranford: Directed by Simon Curtis; produced by Sue Birtwistle and Susie Conklin; adapted by Heidi Thomas from three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell; music by Carl Davis.

North & South: Directed by Brian Percival; produced by Kate Bartlett; music by Martin Phipps.

Wives & daughters: Directed by Nicholas Renton; produced by Sue Birtwistle; music by John E. Keane.

Cranford: Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Philip Glenister, Michael Gambon, Francesca Annis, Imelda Staunton, Julia Sawalha, Simon Woods, Alex Jennings, Dean Lennox Kelly, Lesley Manville, Julia McKenzie, Greg Wise.

North & South: Daniela Denby-Ashe, Richard Armitage, Sinéad Cusack, Tim Piggott-Smith.

Wives & daughters: Justine Waddell, Francesca Annis, Keeley Hawes, Bill Patterson, Tom Hollander, Iain Glen, Rosamund Pike, Michael Gambon.

Cranford: For spinsters Deborah Jenkyns, the arbiter of correctness in Cranford, and Matty, her demurring sister, the town is a hub of intrigue. A handsome new doctor, Frank Harrison, has arrived from London, a retired Army captain and his daughters have moved into a house opposite the sisters, and the preparations for Lady Ludlow's garden party are under way. Everyone -- from charming rogue Dr. Marshland to mean Mrs. Jamieson and her lap dog -- talks, and is talked about, behind closed doors. The town also has its secrets, which it slowly reveals.

North & South: A powerful adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's feisty and passionate love story, set across the social divides in the changing world of Victorian industrial society. Margaret Hale is one of literature's most original heroines: a southerner from a country vicarage newly settled in the industrial northern town of Milton. In the shock of her move, she misjudges charismatic cotton mill owner John Thornton, whose strength of purpose and passion are a match for her own pride and wilfulness.

Wives & daughters: A coming of age story, a romance and a comedy of manners, the film focuses on the fortunes of three families -- the Gibsons, the Hamleys and the Cumnors -- in the English village of Hollingford.

DVD, NTSC; aspect ratio 16:9 enhanced. Dolby Digital, stereo; region 1.

Closed-captioned.