kemble88 ...an extravagant portrayal of the beautiful, the tragic & often senseless waste of time cause by restraint of feelings in human society. A satisfying story in every way, save a second or third series.So beguiled was I, by the many charms of this show, that, half way through the FIRST EPISODE I was compelled to pause while I looked up it's IMDb & WIKI to find out HOW ON EARTH I managed overlook this polished gem of British Television. The reason is simple: The original air date 2004. At that time, Richard Armitage's presence in British TV was relatively obscure. This series put him on the map in Britain, but the Downton Abby/British Drama market here had yet to REALLY take off. I never became aware of this actor until Armitage joined the cast of, "Spooks," in 2008 (MI-5 in N. America). Once his "Visage" crossed The Pond & blessed our TV screens that expanded exponentially with our passion for British Television, there was no looking back and happily, Richard Armitage is featured in a plethora of A-list TV shows & Films.I'll finish with a direct quote from Wikipedia & a thank you to the streaming services for bringing us this work of art!! xoxo :) -Kemble"As the BBC had low expectations for the series, it was not well publicized and went almost unnoticed by critics. Audiences, however, were more receptive; hours after the first episode aired in November 2004, the message board of the programme's website crashed because of the number of visitors the site was receiving, forcing host bbc.co.uk to shut it down. This sudden interest on the serial was attributed to Richard Armitage................"

Olga Klimenko Powerful, brilliant, captivating adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's masterpiece. The casting is perfect. Each and every actor is where he/she is meant to be. The atmosphere, the spirit are delivered perfectly.Richard Armitage....well, there's no need to say anything. He is The One and Only Mr.Thornton ever :) He seems to step down from the pages of the novel.Daniela Danby-Ashe as Margaret is so breathtakingly beautiful, you can't take your eyes off her luminous face as if chiselled of marble. But her play even more so betters her beauty.And - by the way - the music is outstanding! Enchanting and beautiful, very genuinely creating the atmosphere. The only flaw of the film is that they - for some reason - cut out few of the most crucial dialogs/lines between the leading characters. Well, they are not cut out entirely, but thoroughly changed, and, though are pretty fine in their own merit, would be much better for them to be the exact quotations from the novel. For example the scene of the first proposal and the final scene of reaching the understanding between John Thornton and Margaret. These scenes were made wonderfully....but - if the film-makers followed exactly the dialogs as they were put in the book (especially Thornton's lines and expressive manner) - it would be by far more perfect and breathtaking than it already is. So, my vote "9", not "10" - for these little but crucial (from my point of view) alterations from the original dialogs of the book.

carolerae4488 I've been wanting to watch this mini-series for a while now, but I never finished the book so long ago, so I felt bad. I really need to give the book a second chance and I will...thanks to this adaptation.Sooooooooo good. I loved the cast and I loved the story. I honestly watched all four episodes in one day, because I needed to know what would happen next. I especially loved Mr. Thornton...even though he was a butt sometimes - I may be biased because I adore Richard Armitage. I did want to punch Margaret though, because she was a pain and wouldn't be honest with Mr. Thornton. Just tell him the truth! GAH! It's so obvious he will believe you and not betray you, because not only does he love you, but he loves your father so that family secret matters not to him. Why can't people just be honest? I get not telling everyone your family secret, but I think the man you love and who loves you deserves the truth.Okay, I did feel bad for Margaret, because she had a nice simple life in southern England with the trees and the house in nature and her father decides to move them to the North for no real reason. The reason - once he tells - is stupid and not really worth the move. Perhaps, in the book they explain it more. We shall see. I am certainly glad that it took a while for the two to get together; it made the first kiss and acceptance of proposal worth the wait. There was a lot they had to work out and prove to each other, before they could get together. Honestly, I am glad they divided this into 4 parts, because they could add more story-line and explain more. Each character also got a good amount of spotlight. The revolt and the people involved got the spotlight it deserved and I'm glad they didn't cut out the dirty truth of the time period. People were being taken advantage of and not getting enough money. Even though they stood up and demanded more, Mr. Thornton was a man of his time period and refused to pay them. Like every romance-y story, he does have a change of heart, but it takes a big event...I will not say what happens, but it does change his heart and see Margaret's point of view. In the end, I am now super excited to give the book a second chance. This was a great adaptation and made me in love with the story. It is not a simple romance, but there are personal issues and society issues that keep them apart for a while. They do come together, but they earned it. They both had to change to be able to love each other fully. I am glad they showed the truth of the time period; there was good, but also people had to suffer and not get paid enough for their work. I recommend this to those that love historical fiction and romance. It is a good story. I stamp this with 5 stars. Favorite Character(s): Mr Thornton (even though he was butt at the beginning), Margaret (even though she deserved a slap for being dumb), Betsy, and Nicholas Not-so Favorite Character(s): Fanny and Hannah Re-watch?: Yes. It was good.

Ronnie Red Margaret Hale, daughter of a priest Richard Hale migrates along with her family from the simple, dull and old fashioned lifestyle to an industrial town Milton. Miss hale with her simple and humanitarian doctrines finds constantly hard to cope with the modern society. The plot here is taken of 18th century Victorian Era. With the prejudice of insipid and rigorous Industrial Revolution, where the means of production are only in the hands of a few people Margaret meets the townspeople. Here she meets the exploited laborers and their owners Mr. Thornton specially, an obdurate and callous aristocrat. Margaret with her unyielding resolutions quickly develops contempt for industrialist town Milton but in the end finds that preconceptions often mislead.Contrary to Auterism, in case of Adaptions we know it's the screenplay which shines out. The difficulty about good adaption is that the characters are predefined so there is not much room for improvisations. As for this it is an excellent adaption, one who has read thoroughly the Victorian era knows that plot executed is exactly reminiscent of the 18th century. Elizabeth Gaskell who published this in 1855, her work mostly deals with social novels. The characters and dialect is simple and efficient. Unitarianism urges comprehension and tolerance toward all religions and, even though Gaskell tried to keep her own beliefs hidden (being a Unitarian), she felt strongly about these values, which permeated her works—as in North and South, where "Margaret the Churchwoman, her father the Dissenter, Higgins the Infidel, knelt down together. It did them no harm." Much credit to the cast for their exquisite performances, especially Daniela (Hale),Richard (Thornton) but Sinead Cosack (Mrs. Thornton) and Brendan Coyle (Mr. Higgins) steals the show. Brendan who is nominated currently for Primetime Emmy for best supporting actor in Downtown abbey lives up to your expectations. He finely portrays Mr. Higgins, union leader, as a proud, honest, egoistic man working for the better of the society and his family. Whereas Mrs. Thornton much attached to his only son Thornton, constantly supporting him morally is finely depicted by Cosack. A great mixture of history, drama and romance, North & South (2004) is a winner in every sense.