'Cranford' takes in full scope of pre-industrial England

From left: Lisa Dillon, Barbara Flynn, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, and Julia Sawalha take tea in a rural village facing change in the form of a proposed rail stop. (Nick Briggs/BBC)

It will be hard to make "Cranford" sound like anything but a nice little PBS tea cozy. This new three-parter from "Masterpiece" has all the ingredients of a stereotypical bonnet 'n' bustle melodrama, from its portrayal of 19th-century small-town proprieties to its cast of older, formidable British actresses who all seem typecast to play "the chaperone." Based on three works by Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, and woven with comic quirkiness and lace, "Cranford" would seem to be claustrophobically quaint.

Except that underneath all the country innocence and maidenly primness, "Cranford" is a deeply felt, wise, and sometimes grim look at pre-industrial life. There's nothing frivolous or twee about this extraordinary five-hour miniseries, which premieres tomorrow at 9 p.m. Major characters die, hearts are quite broken, and self-sacrifice goes unrewarded. With the help of a massively talented cast of Brits led by the power trio of Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, and Eileen Atkins, "Cranford" portrays both the beauties and the horrible injustices of a small rural community. While the miniseries is certainly filled with the romantic intrigues identified with Jane Austen, it also rests atop a Dickensian sense of socioeconomic tragedy, including a father of six who has been wrongly imprisoned.

When the story begins, in 1842, the town of Cranford is still sheltered from the outside world, although progress threatens to arrive soon with a projected railroad stop. "All around us, England shifts and changes," says newcomer Mary Smith, "but Cranford stands fast." We see a hundred tiny ordinary events unfold in Cranford upon Mary's arrival - a carpenter breaks his arm, the handsome Dr. Harrison (Simon Woods) becomes smitten with a motherless young lady, there is a garden party, a beloved cow goes missing. Gradually, gracefully, the small vignettes accumulate into the story of an entire village, an interrelated and organic whole.

The central figures are the aging sisters Jenkyns, the submissive Miss Matty (Dench) and the more controlling Miss Deborah (Atkins). Neighbors crude and refined come into the Jenkynses' routine lives, and friends of their neighbors come into other Cranford lives - and so the cast opens out beautifully. All the plot pieces in "Cranford" have been taken from Gaskell's fiction, but they've been rearranged and, in some cases, expanded upon, to create a vibrant new work. In many ways the miniseries, created by Sue Birtwistle and Susie Conklin, is more narratively full-bodied and structured than Gaskell's short slice-of-life novel.

Miss Deborah's commitment to what she calls "polite codes" is certainly played for comedy. She won't eat an orange in the presence of others because she doesn't like the word "suck," which is what a baby does at a breast. She and Miss Matty must retire to their rooms to enjoy the wonders of citrus. But Miss Deborah has a strong heart underneath her fierce sense of etiquette; she is a woman who doesn't give away her respect easily, but who gives it away completely when she does.

I had expected to find Dench as the rigid Miss Deborah, given her amazing work as the alpha dog in "Notes on a Scandal" and "Mrs. Brown." But Dench brings out her more vulnerable and subtle side as Miss Matty, who has let her chances at love pass by. She is sweetly moving, particularly when she reconnects with a former suitor played by Michael Gambon. Staunton is perfect as the local gossip, scandalized by absolutely everything, including Gambon's rough manners.

The population of Cranford reaches from the aristocratic Lady Ludlow, played with a haunted fragility by Francesca Annis, to a poor family with six children. One of those children is eager to learn to read, but Lady Ludlow is uncomfortable with that kind of advancement, even while she has a degree of compassion. The class system in Cranford is firmly in place, and stiff old-timers such as Miss Deborah and Lady Ludlow prefer it to anything that carries the scent of democracy or equality. Surely a nearby train stop would wreak havoc on their beloved social structure.

"Masterpiece" has had a popular season built primarily on Jane Austen remakes. But the Austen fare has been uneven, with too many rushed plotlines and too few memorable performances. "Cranford" is far better than any of those adaptations. It's humane, authentic, and worth savoring.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog.