Episode 1
Period drama charting the story of Sarah Burton, a teacher who returns to Yorkshire to take up her first headmistress-ship after 20 years teaching in London and the Empire.
South Riding charts the story of Sarah Burton's homecoming to Yorkshire in 1934 after 20 years teaching in London and the Empire. After a fiery interview with a conservative interview panel, outspoken Sarah takes up her first headmistress-ship at Kiplington High School for Girls, determined to demonstrate to her new pupils that the future is theirs for the taking.
Change is on her agenda straight away - of the curriculum, of teaching methods, of the rundown buildings. Her hurry to transform the South Riding brings her into immediate conflict with landowner Robert Carne, a man tragically trapped in his past, and wins her the friendship of Joe Astell, a reforming socialist councillor bent on improving the lives of the Yorkshire poor by means of a spanking new housing estate to replace the rural slum known as The Shacks. As term begins, Shacks girl Lydia Holly arrives at the High School, with talent to burn and domestic circumstances that make it almost impossible for her to realise her dreams. Meanwhile, Sarah is brought closer to Carne through his highly-strung and delicate daughter, Midge.
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Video Clip: Sarah and Carne come to blows.
Duration: 00:59
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Producer | Lisa Osborne |
Director | Diarmuid Lawrence |
Writer | Andrew Davies |
Author | Winifred Holtby |
Robert Carne | David Morrissey |
Sarah Burton | Anna Maxwell Martin |
Mrs Beddows | Penelope Wilton |
Anthony Snaith | Peter Firth |
Joe Astell | Douglas Henshall |
Alfred Huggins | John Henshaw |
Midge Carne | Katherine McGolpin |
Muriel Carne | Lydia Wilson |
Young Robert Carne | Daniel West |
Mrs Huggins | Penny Layden |
Mrs Oldroyd | Wendy Patterson |
Bessy Warbuckle | Janine Mellor |
Lydia Holly | Charlie May-Clark |
Mrs Holly | Jennifer Hennessy |
Mr Holly | Shaun Dooley |
Gaius Drew | Ian Bartholomew |
Maud | Martha Godber |
Nancy | Charlotte Thornton |
Lord Port | William Rodell |
Hicks | Renny Krupinski |
Miss Sigglesthwaite | Brid Brennan |
Vera | Rosie Muncer |
Reg Aythorne | John Paul Hurley |