Watch Claudie Blakley in "Lark Rise to Candleford" series (Seasons 1-3)

Posted by Le on Saturday, June 26, 2010

Why haven't I seen Lark Rise to Candleford till now? I love period dramas (most of my favorite drama in TV and films are period ones such as P&P, North & South, Wives and Daughters, Little Dorrit, and Love In a Cold Climate to name some) and this is one of those really good period drama/TV serial that I rarely noticed or heard about, but when I do...it surprises me how it was really good. I can't believe I haven't noticed this series till recently. There can be only 3 reasons why I just discovered this series (better late than never, hehe)... a) It wasn't aired here in the U.S. when it premiered...if it was, I would've heard of it. b) It wasn't shown on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre or Masterpiece Mystery!...so that was why I've never heard of this. And c) not only that it was a BBC production, but it also aired on UK's BBC1 channel...you know what that means, I don't live in the UK and we don't have BBC1 channel here in the U.S. (except for BBC America, but they don't air these really good series anymore), so that was why I've never seen this show before... lol.

What's very interesting and unexpected was that this series stars our very own P&P 05's Claudie Blakley (Charlotte Lucas), who plays Emma Timmins and P&P '95's Julia Sawalha (Lydia Bennet), who plays Dorcas Lane (interestingly, she's so much better in this role than she was in P&P 95's Lydia Bennet...at least for me. I like her in this role a lot) for three seasons! Get this, their characters are cousins too! Not too mention, Claudie Blakley (she's very good here....lovin' her character) plays a wife and mother with about 5-6 children! Her eldest daughter Laura Timmins, the lead character and narrator is played by Olivia Hallinan. Also, familiar actors I've seen in North & South, Mansfield Park, and Emma were in this series too. Great casting!!!


The best thing of all, is that I don't have to look or buy the season DVDs (I know I should, but they're expensive and hard to find...lol) 'cause they are available to view for free on YouTube! Yes, you read it right...all episodes from Seasons 1-3 can be viewed on YT! I was only looking for a trailer to include in this post as I write about this here, but I found two YT channels that showed the entire series...and I just started watching Season 1. So far, I'm only on Ep 8 part 1. I have a long way to go to catch up to Season 3, lol...but thank goodness, they are all available to view whenever I want to watch the next episodes (hopefully, YT won't remove them...they better not! I intend to watch them all...) They are pretty good so far, lovin' the Laura/Phillip pairing (thus far...they're so cute and adorable together)...and I'm hooked on watching this series, haha...!  I have the links bookmarked as well as included  here to share with you all who may be interested in watching this...and to easily find the two YT channels to view this series.

But first, check out the synopsis, episode listing, and a few promo/episode stills featuring Claudie Blakley and Julia Sawalha below...
 
1 | 2 | 3 Full episode list » (via IMDB)

Brief Synopsis
An adaptation of Flora Thompson's autobiographical novel "Lark Rise To Candleford", set in 19 century Oxfordshire, in which a young girl moves to the local market town to begin an apprenticeship as a postmistress.


Promo Stills featuring Claudie Blakley
and Julia Sawalha...

[source: BBC1]

Watch Season 1 Episode 1 below...
[source: xlarkrisecandlefordx]   
 xlarkrisecandlefordx (<--- click on the link) has the complete Season 1 Episodes on YouTube!!! 

Also, this Youtube channel: LarkRiseToCandlefor1 has the complete Seasons 2 and 3 all uploaded on YouTube, for all of us who do not live in the UK and don't have BBC1 channel to see these series. How AWESOME is that?!?! So, yeah, check them out and see if you like this series. I know I already do. :)

Watch the complete YT videos of...

Enjoy! :) If you have seen this series though or even just started like I do... what do you think? Feel free to post your thoughts about this series. I'd love to know what you think of LRtoC.