Woman's Hour Drama - Wives and Daughters - Episode 5

Episode Five Molly has to come to terms with many changes in her life. The changes to the house are not all to her taste, and she is called to Mrs Hamley's bedside. Finally she is burdened with an important secret by the Hamley brothers. Elizabeth Gaskell's classic novel of everyday provincial life in the 1820s is dramatised by Theresa Heskins. Lily Gaskell . . . . . Deborah McAndrew Molly Gibson . . . . . Emerald O'Hanrahan Dr Gibson . . . . . Jamie Newall Hyacinth Kirkpatrick . . . . . Julia Hills Lady Cumnor . . . . . Claire Neilson Dorothy Browning . . . . . Marian Kemmer Phoebe Browning . . . . . Susan Jeffrey Mrs Goodenough . . . . . Kate Layden Coxe . . . . . Henry Devas Wynne . . . . Iain Batchelor Bethia/Miss Rose . . . . . Toni Midlane Squire Hamley . . . . . Paul Greenwood Mrs Hamley . . . . . Jilly Bond Roger Hamley . . . . . Gunnar Cauthery Cynthia . . . . . Maya Barcot Produced and directed by Peter Leslie Wild Notes Wives and Daughters was written in the 1860s and serialised in the Cornhill Magazine. It is set in the 1820s and deals to a large extent with the position of women in Society. Elizabeth Gaskell left it unfinished, so any dramatiser of the novel is faced with guessing the intended outcome of the story. Theresa Heskins previously adapted Lady Audley's Secret for the Woman's Hour serial, and has adapted Bleak House and Great Expectations for the New Vic Theatre, North Staffordshire, where she is Artistic Director.