Wives and Daughters (1999 miniseries)
| Wives and Daughters | |
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DVD cover
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| Genre | Drama |
| Based on | Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell |
| Written by |
Andrew Davies Elizabeth Gaskell |
| Directed by | Nicholas Renton |
| Starring |
Justine Waddell Bill Paterson Francesca Annis Keeley Hawes Tom Hollander Anthony Howell Michael Gambon |
| Composer(s) | John E. Keane |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Rebecca Eaton Jane Tranter |
| Producer(s) | Sue Birtwistle |
| Cinematography | Fred Tammes |
| Editor(s) | Kevin Lester |
| Running time | 301 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
BBC WGBH Boston |
| Distributor | BBC Worldwide |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 28 November 1999 – 19 December 1999 |
Wives and Daughters is a 1999 four-part BBC serial adapted from the novel Wives and Daughters: An Everyday Story by Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell.
The series was a joint production of the BBC and WGBH Boston, an American public broadcast station and 'won high audience ratings' when it first screened in the UK in 1999. Its audience rivalry with an adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, screened on ITV at the same time, was dubbed 'the battle of the bonnets'. It appeared in the US on BBC America in August 2000 and was later shown on PBS.
It focuses on Molly Gibson (Justine Waddell), the daughter of the town doctor, and the changes that occur in her life after her widowed father chooses to remarry. The union brings into her once-quiet life an ever-proper stepmother (Francesca Annis) who is 'too vain and shallow to care for anything beyond her improved social status'. Also a flirtatious stepsister, Cynthia (Keeley Hawes), while a friendship with the local squire brings about an unexpected romance. A New York Times review of the series in 2001 said 'The entire cast gets the characters right.'
Written by Andrew Davies, produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Nicholas Renton, the programme also features Michael Gambon, Penelope Wilton, Bill Paterson and Rosamund Pike.
Davies and Birtwistle collaborated on the BBC's television popular adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in 1995. Following that success the BBC 'effectively told the duo they could adapt any book they wished' leading to Wives and Daughters. Birtwhistle described Gaskell's novel as 'strong, direct and passionate' and this offered 'the necessary elements for a popular classic TV drama'.
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