Three-part dramatization of the novel by Joanna Trollope. A clergyman's wife shocks the church establishment and infuriates her husband by taking a job in a supermarket. She attracts the passionate interest of three very different men: a newly-appointed archdeacon; his younger brother, a philosopher and academic; and a wealthy businessman new to the village.
DirectorGiles Foster
WritersHugh Whitemore, Joanna Trollope
Episode 1
Mar 4, 1994
When Peter misses out on promotion to Archdeacon, Anna takes a job at the supermarket to earn enough to send Flora to private school, which Peter sees as an act of rebellion against him and the church.
Episode 2
Mar 11, 1994
Anna's wealthy new neighbour, Patrick, offers her son Luke a job. The village ladies show their disapproval of Anna's job, and Anna finds herself attracted to the Archdeacon's brother, Jonathan.
Episode 3
Mar 18, 1994
Anna gets closer to Jonathan, while Luke thinks she's having an affair with Patrick. When Peter finds out that Flora has a free place at St Saviours he tells the supermarket that Anna will be leaving.
Episode 4
Mar 25, 1994
Tragedy strikes after Patrick's housekeeper Ella tells Peter that Anna is having an affair with Patrick.
Peter McGinn
@narrator56
I was surprised by this series, considering how long ago it was made, and also surprised I hadn't watched it when it ran on PBS. I haven't read the book, so I can't make comparisons. I am not one who insists movies sticks to the source material Anyway, as long as it is done well and doesn't sully the original. There are mature issues raised by the plot, requiring careful and expansive thought, which is perhaps why some reviews on other websites trash it Just by using sound bites. One reviewer even said it was feminist propaganda, and anyone who has studied feminism would know that they recognize that misogyny and sexism hurts men as much as it does women, which means it hurts families. If the man had done what the wife did, would it have been macho man propaganda? Still, rather than give a treatise on Society that I am not savvy enough to handle, I will just say that this mini-series made me think, and that is not a bad thing as long as my brain doesn't start hurting. I admit I was disappointed in the wife at some point, but not as often as I was in the poor husband infected by religion, but who was basically lost.
