Lark Rise to Candleford

This was a funny little episode. Once again the theme of love that can never be acted upon appears -- poor Miss Lane. Mystical yokel Queenie finds a tapestry in the graveyard and she and her husband Twister are overwhelmed by its beauty. And also by the possibility that it might be worth a fortune. The Misses Pratt come over all psychic.

Meanwhile, Philip and Alf go head to head, but is it about poaching, or about Laura? I love this thread -- although I'm pretty sure I know who's going to win in the end.

And Mrs Arless comes home determined to be a better person, cue a very funny scene where she can't stop saying 'arse' ('we all has one, and some of us has two') in front of the vicar's daughter. Her character seems a lot deeper and slightly more interesting now she's been to prison.

And Robert accuses his son Edmund of lying -- lots of opportunities for them to glare darkly at each other. But since I'd had no indication that Robert's own brother had been a bad'un, until I was told in an exposition, I found it hard to be sympathetic. I loved Laura's quote: '...you walk down the road as if you own one half of it and are thinking of buying the other.'

I find the reactions of the Misses Pratt to the tapestry very... out of character. I suppose, being fashionistas, they'd know what they were talking about, but to have them go all mystic about it doesn't seem right. I think, given that Queenie already has a relationship with them through her lacemaking, I would have been inclined to have her go to them first; I would have had them take it off her in a flurry of excitement (just like they took the schoolmaster's French books from Thomas Brown) and then I would have had Miss Lane and Sir Timothy intervene. But who knows the minds of other writers, eh?

Other points I liked: The baby box, which I remember from the book; and the music; and Emma's felt hat.

BBC website: Lark Rise to Candleford