Revisiting North and South...

...all in the name of promoting books!

My friend and author, the fabulous Laura Frantz (author of The Frontiersman's Daughter - my review - and Courting Morrow Little - my review) recently posted a "teaser" about the new series she's working on, slated to debut in 2012 - The Ballantyne Legacy. If you click over to her post, you'll discover that the template for her hero is a very familiar face to those of you who know (and share) my obsession with all things British. It's the one and only Richard Armitage, as he appears in the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South.

*pause*

Are you through swooning yet? :) Personally I think I'm still scraping myself off the floor. 

I haven't posted about North and South in a while...actually, I've shamefully neglected my Richard Armitage obsession lately! So in honor of Laura's upcoming series, and to hopefully provide her with a little extra "inspiration" as she pens the Ballantyne stories (*wink*), I thought I'd transfer a small collection of North and South related images from my old blog to this one. Enjoy! :)

This last photo is a screen capture collage my friend Kaye put together for a "Best Screen Kisses" post I compiled a couple of years ago (if memory serves, my post was inspired by her own "Fun Friday" post on the same subject). That was a fun post to put together, let me tell you! Staring at this picture is really the next best thing to watching the last ten minutes of North and South over and over (and over and over) again...it never gets old, trust me on this people!

Oh and Laura, might I humbly suggest you look into using actress Daniela Denby-Ashe (Margaret in N&S) as a template for a character in the Ballantyne books? Just a thought, as given her work with Richard Armitage here I'm sure she'd be a good fit. :) Oh, and 2012 is way to long to wait for these stories, just sayin'! :)

Masterpiece Classic returns!

After what seems like an interminable wait, the new season of Masterpiece Classic begins this Sunday with part one of Return to Cranford, the sequel series to the fabulous Cranford miniseries, based on the works of Elizabeth Gaskell. Here's just a bit about what's in store:

This Sunday, January 10, revisit Cranford — the sleepy English village that captured the hearts of MASTERPIECE viewers in 2008. In Return to Cranford, the distinguished cast is back, including Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Julia McKenzie and Francesca Annis, as Cranford continues to come to terms with wrenching social change against the backdrop of a close-knit community. Return to Cranford is based on the works of Victorian-era writer Elizabeth Gaskell.

Isn't this cast fantastic? Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Julia McKenzie, and Francesca Annis are just a few of the familiar faces due to appear in this production. I don't know about you all, but I for one am very excited about Masterpiece Classics posts returning to the blog. :)