Kevin Byers

This is an enjoyable, well produced and for the most part well acted series, however it bears almost no relation to the original books which is a great disappointment to all of us who grew up loving these wonderful stories. As someone who studied the books for A'level sadly 30 years ago now, and also as a fan of the wonderful stage productions involving the Albion Band, I looked forward with great anticipation to this series. Sadly, episode 1 made it clear that this was 'based' on the original, and very losely at that. Gone is the wonderful social history and acute character description of Flora Thompson, only to be replaced by a sacharine image of English Country life. Laura is no longer a shy but intelligent girl developing into a self assured young woman at the centre of her community, only to be replaced by a 21st century flirtatious teenager who is almost unrecognisable as the original character which was of course a thinly disguised autobiography of Thompson he rself. I will never understand why television adaptations have to be like this, but if you are willing to view the series as being little more than a shadow of the original, go ahead and enjoy it for it's own sake. But for God's sake read the book as well!