On 2009-07-13 16:21:59 +0100, June Hughes
said:

In message , Sacha
writes

I loved Mapp & Lucia, saw it first time around and watched it again on
DVD, then re-read the books, just for good measure. My men like Top
Gear but it makes cringe, though I do find Jeremy Clarkson's books
funny. But their behaviour on tv is just too much of the overgrown
schoolboy having fun and us paying for it. Loved Cranford and always
enjoy the Jane Austen adaptations.

Lucia is such an arch snob but I like her for all that. A very dear
friend lives near Rye, where many of the stories are set, and I love
going there. I had forgotten about the Jane Austin series' (can't
think of the plural of series atm). I rather like period drama but
after watching the Cranford DVD, I read Mrs Gaskell's book and was
surprised to find several characters and stories that were on the DVD
but not in the book.

If Lucia wasn't like that with her "un po di musica" etc. it would lose
half its fun, IMO. She was the Mrs Buckett of her time but more finely
drawn. It's their pretensions that make them both so funny and so
endearing.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon