Cranford Author:Mrs Gaskell One of the most delightful accounts ever written of provincial life in Victorian England, it is also subtly caustic. The BBC-1 Classic serial in colour shows Pat Coombs as Miss Pole, Gabrielle Hamilton as Miss Matty, Hazel Bainbridge as Betsy Barker, Helen Christie as Mrs. Forrester and Fabia Drake as The Hon. Mrs. Haieson, on the cover.