Lark Rise to Candleford: Season 2

I was able to watch this thanks to my friend who lives in the UK (it hasn't been released in the US yet). Lark Rise to Candleford is a charming series that tackles myriad themes, and is adapted from Flora Thompson's semi-autobiographical novel. In the first season, young Laura Timmins (Olivis Hallinan) leaves her village of Lark Rise to work as an assistant to the postmistress in Candleford, Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha). Through the course of the first season, Laura discovers that she enjoys living in the more affluent town of Candleford, and experiences the pangs of adolescence, including romantic entanglements. Dorcas Lane, the kind-hearted and sensible postmistress also goes through some pangs of her own, largely to do with her friendship with squire, Sir Timothy Midwinter (Ben Miles) who is married to the beautiful and composed Lady Adelaide (Olivia Grant). In the first season, viewers got to see the themes of marital strife, conflicts between the upper and lower classes, romantic entanglements, and other issues played out.By the second season, both Sir Timothy and Lady Adelaide have moved to London, but there is still plenty of drama in Dorcas' life with the arrival of James Dowland (Jason Merrells), a former inhabitant of Lark Rise, a local boy who has done well in life. Being a self-made and wealthy man, James settles in Candleford, though he reacquaints himself with the residents of Lark Rise, especially Queenie Turrill (Linda Bassett) who used to take care of him as a young boy. James opens a fashionable hotel in Candleford, and tries to 'improve' the lives of the Lark Rise residents with mixed results. There is also a strong chemistry between James and Dorcas, though their relationship flounders between attraction and rivalry/conflict. Laura seems more mature and wiser, having learned a couple of enlightening things about the pitfalls of romance, and is taking on more responsibilities at the post office. But then, a young clockmaker, Fisher Bloom (Matthew McNulty) comes to town, and Laura finds herself attracted to Fisher, though he seems oblivious to her charms, initially. Laura's parents, Robert and Emma Timmins (Brendan Coyle & Claudie Blakley) who have always been a very close and loving couple find themselves facing some marital strife in their marriage, and this second season takes an intimate look at their dynamics as a couple.There is also plenty of drama amongst the other inhabitants of Lark Rise - the sisters Pearl and Ruby Pratt (Matilda Ziegler, Victoria Hamilton) who have a dressmaking/drapery store continue to pry into others' affairs whilst dealing with their own emotional dramas. Postman Thomas Brown's (Mark Heap)romantic (mis)adventures continue, and many more. This is truly a gem of a series, and I am hopelessly addicted to it. Each episode is well-crafted and credibly acted, drawing viewers into the lives of these mostly endearing & flawed characters, and making one feel at home in both Lark Rise and Candleford. I am so glad that the BBC has okayed a third season (to be telecast in 2010), and I hope the second season of this DVD will be made available for viewers in the US soon.

Lark Rise to Candleford: The Complete Season One  is a charming series that tackles myriad themes, and is adapted from Flora Thompson's semi-autobiographical novel. In the first season, young Laura Timmins (Olivis Hallinan) leaves her village of Lark Rise to work as an assistant to the postmistress in Candleford, Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha who was also brilliant in her role as Lydia Bennet in  Pride and Prejudice - The Special Edition (A&E, 1996) ). Through the course of the first season, Laura discovers that she enjoys living in the more affluent town of Candleford, and experiences the pangs of adolescence, including romantic entanglements. Dorcas Lane, the kind-hearted and sensible postmistress also goes through some pangs of her own, largely to do with her friendship with squire, Sir Timothy Midwinter (Ben Miles) who is married to the beautiful and composed Lady Adelaide (Olivia Grant). In the first season, viewers got to see the themes of marital strife, conflicts between the upper and lower classes, romantic entanglements, and other issues played out.By the second season, both Sir Timothy and Lady Adelaide have moved to London, but there is still plenty of drama in Dorcas' life with the arrival of James Dowland (Jason Merrells), a former inhabitant of Lark Rise, a local boy who has done well in life. Being a self-made and wealthy man, James settles in Candleford, though he reacquaints himself with the residents of Lark Rise, especially Queenie Turrill (Linda Bassett) who used to take care of him as a young boy. James opens a fashionable hotel in Candleford, and tries to 'improve' the lives of the Lark Rise residents with mixed results. There is also a strong chemistry between James and Dorcas, though their relationship flounders between attraction and rivalry/conflict. Laura seems more mature and wiser, having learned a couple of enlightening things about the pitfalls of romance, and is taking on more responsibilities at the post office. But then, a young clockmaker, Fisher Bloom (Matthew McNulty) comes to town, and Laura finds herself attracted to Fisher, though he seems oblivious to her charms, initially. Laura's parents, Robert and Emma Timmins (Brendan Coyle & Claudie Blakley) who have always been a very close and loving couple find themselves facing some marital strife in their marriage, and this second season takes an intimate look at their dynamics as a couple.There is also plenty of drama amongst the other inhabitants of Lark Rise & Candleford - the sisters Pearl and Ruby Pratt (Matilda Ziegler, Victoria Hamilton) who have a dressmaking/drapery store continue to pry into others' affairs whilst dealing with their own emotional dramas. Postman Thomas Brown's (Mark Heap)romantic (mis)adventures continue, and many more. This is truly a gem of a series, and I am hopelessly addicted to it. Each episode is well-crafted and credibly acted, drawing viewers into the lives of these mostly endearing & flawed characters, and making one feel at home in both Lark Rise and Candleford.For those who love period dramas, there's some wonderful productions (these are some of my favorites) to check out: Cranford: The Collection (Cranford / Return to Cranford) Pride and Prejudice - The Special Edition (A&E, 1996) Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1980) Daniel Deronda Anne of Green Gables Trilogy Box Set Road to Avonlea Season 1  and others in the series Wives and Daughters The Buccaneers

I bought season two and three in blu-ray and tried to play in my Sony BDP-S360 but they would not. I updated the firmware and still no luck. I went to Best Buy today (8 January 2012) and took Season 2 along and tried the newest Sony 3D blu-ray BDPBX58 and they still wouldn't play. The salesman and I then tried the LG BD670 and the discs played perfectly! I bought the player, took it home, and we just watched an episode and some extras and all went beautifully.Now for the series: we were introduced to Lark Rise by our Australian friends (she is originally from the UK) and we were hooked after the first episode. To make you appreciate where we're coming from, I have to tell you the following background information: we have a gigantic video collection with all kinds of classic films and TV series. We have five boys and a girl ranging from seven to 22 years and we've always watched everything as a family, and before Lark Rise we would have told you that some of our favorite movie and tv productions were Lord of the Rings, Amadeus, the original Twilight Zone, classic Star Trek, Alfred Hitchcock movies, etc. We are all in complete agreement that Lark Rise is the most riveting, well-written, best-cast series ever shown on television. The acting is superb - just flawless - and you feel as if you're living with the characters as they draw out every emotion from you. Unlike Little House on the Prairie, which was so predictable that you could map out each episode about a minute after it started, the Lark Rise writers have you literally sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation (and worry) of what will happen next. We've been taken by complete surprise about a dozen times already. We are all dreading the end of season four as we wish that this series would have went on forever.

We watched the 1st series and now that we finally received series 2 we couldn't stop watching.... What a wonderful world is displayed here; although there is pain, hardship, even plain wrong doing - it's never so that you don't want to go on and on! All characters have good and fine sides to their roles, the acting is sublime, and many of the smaller parts from series 1 have now truly brilliant roles. We found every player absolutely plausible and Laura's tears were so real, Alf's heart was heard when it broke and sang when mended, little Minnie is developping in a mind blowing fashion, the couple Twister and Queenie are simply wonderful. Actually, it's unfair to mention some roles and not others because every actor is exceptionally good in their role. I often said that 'Thomas Brown' will be settled for life with those thinly set lips and that holier-than-thou look :)Now we have seen the parts 1-12 we are only sad because we will have to wait a long time before we can get the series 3!!! This must be one of the best, if not THE best BBC costume series.... Worlds better than the many soap operas we occasionally also buy! These are films you can watch 'en famille' and that merits a mention too.I have no idea how close or far from the book(s) these films are, but I think nobody would complain even if they are a bit different to the novels.Dispatch was quick and with no trouble involved. Thank You!!!

As a great fan of the first series I was initially a bit disappointed with this as the first couple of episodes, particularly the Xmas special, where a bit underwhelming. However once the series got into it's stride it really crackled and some lesser characters became much bigger players, particularly Alf Arless and Twister & Queenie. The realtionship between Robert & Emma Timmins is explored in much greater depth and both Dorcas & Laura are portrayed as much less perfect and consequently more believeable. There are also a couple of great new characters of which Minnie almost steels the show. There are tales of mystery, seduction, betrayal and love - in fact all of life! I won't spoil them by giving hints but if you liked the 1st series, you'll love all 12 episodes

I was so dissapointed with this one. And also sorry that I had bought all the available series at the same time because I thought the series 1 was so very enchanting. What a waste of money. The characters have changed into some kind of parodies of emotions. I only imagine the shame they must have when having to act in such a elementary way. Also the plots are considerably duller and easy to guess from the first moments.I did watch every episode and it was the same. I know it's supposed to be happening in some fairytale imagined time and place which has not ever existed but still to see people act and speak totally out of the context of the time they are supposed to be in, is really sad. It's supposed to be sugar-coated, but there is a limit to that too. And for me it's the fact that I really like to see beliavable acting. And also at least somehow believable plots.

Since my wife is an ardent fan of costume dramas, I thought I'd give her this series for christmas, although we had never heard of it before. But Julia Sawalha is in it, so it has to be good. I wanted to watch the first episode alone - just to check it out, you know - and ended up watching all of them almost in a row (with a bit of sleep and work inbetween!)Not wanting to part with the inhabitants of Lark Rise and Candleford I immediately ordered the second season as well. By now I've only seen the spooky christmas special, which is even better than I expected. Very much looking forward to watching the rest - and the first series again, this time together with my wife!!Lark Rise to Candleford is sentimental at times, but always heartwarming and very human. The series boasts a tremendously talented cast - I especially love the scenes with Linda Bassett and Karl Johnson as tender old couple Queenie and Twister Turrill!Truly a must-see!

Everything about this adaptation of Flora Thompson's books is just right. The acting is uniformly excellent. It would be unfair to pick out particular performances. The story lines are dramatic, subtle and involving. The relationships between various combinations of characters are endlessly fascinating.