The Hardacres comes to Channel 5 – All Creatures fans should tune in
Monday: The Hardacres (Channel 5, 9pm)
Not content with being the home of All Creatures Great and Small, Channel 5 is now bringing us a new Yorkshire-based period drama. The Hardacres – and it’s set to be epic.
Based on CL Skelton’s best-selling series of novels, it’s a rags-to-riches 19th-century saga charting the fortunes of the Hardarcre family.
Claire Cooper and Liam McMahon head the cast as married couple Sam and Mary Hardacre. He works on the docks with their eldest son Joe (Adam Little), while his wife, rebellious teenage daughter Liza (Shannon Lavelle) and Mary’s mother Ma (Julie Graham) gut fish for a living.
Meanwhile, their youngest son Harry (Zak Ford-Williams) is still at school.
It’s a hard life for the tight-knit, working-class family, made even harder by their odious boss Mr Shaw (David Pearse), but they get by – until an accident befalls Sam and they all lose their jobs.
Facing homelessness and destitution, Ma and Liza initially turn to smuggling, but Mary comes up with a novel business idea. It’s so successful, it doesn’t just enable to keep a roof over their heads – it makes them rich beyond their wildest dreams.
Before the first episode is over, the Hardacres are moving into one of the finest houses in the county, and discovering that leaving their supportive community behind for the world of high society brings with it a new set of challenges.
Luckily, Claire Cooper, whose previous credits include The Continental, The Peripheral and Hollyoaks, enjoyed playing both the rags and riches aspects.
She says: “I like both worlds. I do love being dressed down. It’s fun. Because you really fall into the character. We were comfortable, although I was still wearing a corset. But the clothes were warm, and we were in winter when we were filming it.
“Then of course, the transition moving into the beautiful gowns, and the tailored clothes. They were tighter because they had more corsets, so they weren’t as comfortable. But I embraced the world. There were so many costumes I couldn’t pick out one favourite, because honestly, I had the most unreal wardrobe.”
Claire adds: “Of course you can dress up all you like, you can change your hair, change your makeup, change your clothes, but what happens to the person, the soul inside? And that’s what we really explore in the series.”
As well as the clothes, Claire also took to the accent – and little wonder as she was born in Wakefield. The actress says: “I was the only person in the cast from Yorkshire, so if people wanted me to, I would support them if needed. Of course, we had our wonderful voice coach, Natalie Grady, who’s amazing.
“But I just fall into it, because I am northern. I don’t often get to play northern women, and it was lovely to explore that feisty, northern, Yorkshire woman.”
Will any of the accent – and the feistiness – get knocked out of Mary now that she’s rich, or will she find a way to stay in touch with her roots? We’ll have to keep watching to find out.