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British dames portray Victorian spinsters in 'Cranford'

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From: Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Date: 20080425
Author:Bridget Byrne

LONDON -- "Cranford" doesn't follow the trend to sex-up TV adaptations of British classics, and the screenwriter is proud of it.

"There is no sex," laughs Heidi Thomas, who adapted Elizabeth Gaskell's witty and astute observations of mid-19th century village life in Northern England, where a group of spinsters dominate social mores. "You are dealing with a lot of very excitable virgins, and that to me is so much more delicious than sexing it up."

The cast concurs.

"If it's not there, you don't think about it," says Imelda Staunton, who plays Miss Pole, the most nosey and gossipy of the group.

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