This adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell‘s 19th century novel carved out a lead over Pride & Prejudice… of just one vote. (Wow.) The plots share only passing similarities: here, a Southern minister’s daughter (Daniela Denby-Ashe) fights an attraction to a repressed Northern cotton mill owner (MI-5‘s Richard Armitage) whom she initially disdains. The 2004 miniseries transformed Richard Armitage from a little-known stage and screen actor into one of Britain’s leading heartthrobs. (Own it on DVD.)
Readers Have Their Say: The 10 Greatest British TV Dramas of All-Time
2. North and South (2004)
This adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell‘s 19th century novel carved out a lead over Pride & Prejudice… of just one vote. (Wow.) The plots share only passing similarities: here, a Southern minister’s daughter (Daniela Denby-Ashe) fights an attraction to a repressed Northern cotton mill owner (MI-5‘s Richard Armitage) whom she initially disdains. The 2004 miniseries transformed Richard Armitage from a little-known stage and screen actor into one of Britain’s leading heartthrobs. (Own it on DVD.)
And the British drama readers voted as the greatest ever is…