Lark Rise to Candleford: The Complete Season Three

The 2010 third season of the BBC series, based on Flora Thompson's semiautobiographical books about life in rural Oxfordshire during the late 19th century, proves as charming as the first two, even if the production scale seems slightly smaller this time around. Once again the focus is on the post office in the town of Candleford, where owner Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha) works with her assistant Laura Timmins (Olivia Hallinan), from the nearby village of Lark Rise. The obligatory romantic arc involves Laura and young journalist Daniel Parish (Ben Aldridge), who arrives from Oxford for a story and stays on to establish Candleford's first newspaper. But their relationship is strained by Laura's parents', as well as an incident that calls his fidelity into question, and the return of one of Laura's old flames. A variety of subplots emerge—a measles outbreak, the arrival of a militant feminist who's run away from her controlling husband, an upcoming visit by the local bishop—all of which are cannily designed to give the many colorful supporting characters center stage. The final hour even has a touch of the cliffhanger, as the arrival of the railroad threatens the local postal operation (all ends well, however, nicely setting the stage for the fourth season). Compiling all 12 episodes, DVD extras include a 1975 tour of Juniper Hill, the village where Thompson grew up, which served as the model for Lark Rise. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)