best movie i've ever seen.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I love this movie. i haven't had the chance to read it, but I love history and believe that it is very close to what the working conditions would have been. I love how the characters grow over time and how the pot develops. Highly Recommended if you enjoy any Jane Austen!!!

A fantastic period drama! Armitage, Coyle, Denby-Ashe, and Cusack light the flames that keep this going 10 years later. Everything is good about this show. The costumes and setting are so good. If you don't want to fall in love with Armitage, don't watch this. He'll suck you in and you will be stuck... for awhile, anyway. I love Coyle's worker's accent and speech. British shows tend to make us listen to the dialogue with words that are not part of everyday American language. I think they could have made it into 6 shows with more development of John and Maragret's relationship and more of an intro of the two main characters. Also, the editing at times was off which made things weird.

I love period drama on the BBC and PBS. This avalanche of glowing reviews is an orchestrated fraud. I'll make myself quick - I've been watching Masterpiece Theatre and BBC serial dramas for 40 years, and, let me tell you, THIS IS WORST PRODUCTION ON THE BBC THAT HAVE EVER SEEN! None of rings true. The entire story has the trite, simple-minded, devoid from reality of a Barbara Cartland novel The entire enterprise - neither the acting, the script, plot development ring true. I have spent the entire series SMH, hooting laughter, or berating the screen because IT IS SO BAD.I'm just finishing the series right now, because it is so BAD, it is akin to being transfixed by horrible automobile crash

What a wonderful adaptation of this classic tale. The acting was superb and made me an instant fan of Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage both of which whose acting made the love story come alive for me. The supporting staff was also superb, especially Sinéad Cusack, Anna Martin, Brendan Coyle, Tim Pigott-Smith, and John Light. I was surprised to learn that this story was originally written by Elizabeth Gaskell in the 1800's. And that Dicken was her editor, making it a true classic tale. The storyline was so well adapted by Sandy Welch who writes many of the best adaptations of classics available today, including Emma, and my favorite version of Jane Eyre. I loved the progression of the relationship between John Thornton, and Margaret Hale, two people from different social backgrounds who in the beginning didn't understand each other, to their gradual respect of each other and eventual love. Richard Armitage, did such a good job as John, his ability to go from strong and powerful, to insecure and loving (it was such good acting on his part). After seeing him in this role I know I would love to see him play Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (for which he would be perfect). He has that kind of dynamic personality and such a range of acting ability. I know him from MI-5 (Spooks in the UK), and from the Hobbit.... but the North and the South is his greatest role to date. I just want more of him in love stories! The same is true of the beautiful Daniela Denby- Ashe, I know I must have seen her in other roles, but she dominates this role completely. Her acting is wonderful and so believable that it takes you right into the era she was portraying. She is so beautiful with those expressive eyes and perfect mouth and so talented an actress. I was surprised I hadn't seen her in more lead movie roles. She definitely belongs up there with the best of actresses of her day. The story North and South was really interesting, showing the lives of the mill workers, and the gentry of the day. Their lives were so strikingly different and so complexly intertwined. The story also showed how the industrial revolution changed forever the future of so many, expanding the wealth of the merchant class, the laborers and the initiating the decline of the English aristocracy. Today we still live in economies defined by the industrial revolution of that day, although, I do believe it is time for another economic revolution. A revolution to create an economic system that would support the technology advances of our time (The need for less human labor and more sharing of the wealth that technological advances affords us). Just as in the past when Unionization ensured labor a voice in defining the business norms of that day, and the social structures that grew up around it. The activism shown in the labor movement of that time is still needed in today's complex global economy. I see the laborers in China, India and in third world countries still battling for the same rights won by the mill workers of that era. Therefore, I think this story is still relevant to the world we live in. Modern industrialized countries need better ways to manage and maintain the gains won in the past by workers, and emerging economies are still battling the same problems. I could get on my soap-box but really what makes this story work is the classic love story and the dichotomy of rich and poor of that day. In terms of the love story, Thornton (Richard Armitage) makes a most handsome lover, strong and tall, tender and love stricken, conflicted by the belief that he is not worthy of his feelings for Margaret (Daniela). Margaret is a woman worthy of his love, honorable to a fault with a social consciousness that enlightens Thornton beliefs. She is the kind of woman who could make him fulfill his potential as a man. You get glimpses of his potential in moments like when he is educating the observers at the exposition, and when he takes on Higgins(Brendan) and begins to relate to his worker's plight. His relationship with his Mother(Sinéad) shows glimpses of his humanness, vulnerability and insecurities as opposed to the strength he shows in his work world. For Margaret you see her grow up from the girl who grew up in relative comfort of the south. Who was not ready to love (especially poor Henry Lennox who loved her to the end) to someone who's social consciousness defined her and all around her. She goes from disliking the man she see's beating up a worker for smoking in the mill, to valuing his industriousness and integrity. To realizing how much she admires and misses him when separated. I just love that last scene where the both long for each other believing they will never see each other again, to meeting by accident at the rail station, and touching and kissing for the first time.. It left me longing for a sequel (well, I'd like to see more of their relationship develop, with the eventual conflicts that are abound to happen when they marry.. ). All I can say is that it's a wonderful mini-series.. Buy it, view it, love it.