The series lack historical sense and is a typical effort of reworking 19th century themes in order to make them more palatable to 21st century taste. But why not stick to adapting contemporary fiction then?
First the short-story "Lady Ludlow" takes place much earlier than "Cranford", in fact during the French Revolution. It's one of the "historical" works of Mrs Gaskell. Besides this, the character Lady Ludlow is already old-fashioned for those times, particularly in her opposition to "lower classes" learning to read. The short-story is both full of light irony (very Austen-like) and pathos (though a long melodramatic story within the story about the French Revolution mars it a little to my mind). But Lady Ludlow becomes annoying in the TV adaptation, because she's no longer in her historical time but transported to a much later time, at least 50 years later, where her prejudices become utterly ridiculous. She and the other people related to her tale seem artificially grafted into Cranford and simply do not belong.
As for "Mr Harrison's Confessions" which as a short-story is absolutely hilarious, I find the series only produced a pale imitation of it, only mildly amusing at times. Besides, if, in tone and period, it blends more easily with "Cranford" than "Lady Ludlow", Sophie's characterisation and her father's underwent a great change to make them acceptable to 21st century prejudices. For instance, since he's a clergyman, he has to be bland and cold in the series, yet he is presented as a sort of worthy example in the short-story: a type of the upright and balanced Christian who sometimes appears in Gaskell's fiction. In the short-story, the death of Walter is very moving and depicted as the death of a Christian child with Christian hope. Why was this turned into another occasion for questioning God's mercy and will in classic 21st-century fashion? This shows a total incapacity to even begin to understand the Christian beliefs of the time (which are still held by some).
What a pity adapters cannot see that 21st-century pet theories are in no way superior (or more logical or more consistent or indeed more interesting) than those of previous times.
First the short-story "Lady Ludlow" takes place much earlier than "Cranford", in fact during the French Revolution. It's one of the "historical" works of Mrs Gaskell. Besides this, the character Lady Ludlow is already old-fashioned for those times, particularly in her opposition to "lower classes" learning to read. The short-story is both full of light irony (very Austen-like) and pathos (though a long melodramatic story within the story about the French Revolution mars it a little to my mind). But Lady Ludlow becomes annoying in the TV adaptation, because she's no longer in her historical time but transported to a much later time, at least 50 years later, where her prejudices become utterly ridiculous. She and the other people related to her tale seem artificially grafted into Cranford and simply do not belong.
As for "Mr Harrison's Confessions" which as a short-story is absolutely hilarious, I find the series only produced a pale imitation of it, only mildly amusing at times. Besides, if, in tone and period, it blends more easily with "Cranford" than "Lady Ludlow", Sophie's characterisation and her father's underwent a great change to make them acceptable to 21st century prejudices. For instance, since he's a clergyman, he has to be bland and cold in the series, yet he is presented as a sort of worthy example in the short-story: a type of the upright and balanced Christian who sometimes appears in Gaskell's fiction. In the short-story, the death of Walter is very moving and depicted as the death of a Christian child with Christian hope. Why was this turned into another occasion for questioning God's mercy and will in classic 21st-century fashion? This shows a total incapacity to even begin to understand the Christian beliefs of the time (which are still held by some).
What a pity adapters cannot see that 21st-century pet theories are in no way superior (or more logical or more consistent or indeed more interesting) than those of previous times.