Hormah, the outreach librarian at Louise Riley recommended North and South, the British mini-series starring Richard Armitage (the best looking spy from the recent seasons of tv series MI-5).

Based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel, it's the now classic Victorian scenario of misunderstanding and stubbornness ending in romance (remind anyone of Austen's Pride and Prejudice?). A minister's daughter relocates to Milton, an industrial town rife with poverty and conflict. Gaskell herself lived in Manchester and was married to a minister and was best known in her time for her biography of Charlotte Bronte (see the Britannica Encyclopedia in our E-library).

We also have the adaptation of Gaskell's Wives and Daughters--a little more comic but it also deals with making choices about how to live and with whom. We also have a popular adaptation of Gaskell's Cranford, starring Judi Dench, which Hormah also recommended.