These were the Victorian country folk she knew during her north Oxfordshire childhood and who were memorialised in her classic Lark Rise to Candleford.

The story follows the fortunes of Laura Timmins, a teenage girl from a poor farming family, who we see (via a job at the post office) launched from backwoods Lark Rise on a journey to neighbouring Candleford and into adult life. The three books have been adapted for the BBC in 10 parts by Bill Gallagher who says: "What struck me was how they are teeming with wonderful characters and anecdotes. What also struck me as uniquely appealing was that this was not a depiction of one community, but two. And how different they are! While Lark Rise is gently holding on to the past, Candleford is busily bustling into
the future.

"From this difference comes the conflict that is a never-ending source of dramatic stories, comic incident and torn relationships. Lark Rise is poverty-stricken, life-loving and proud of its rural identity. Life here is spontaneous – they're always ready to have a knees-up – and they are earthy.

"People make their meagre living off the land. Sometimes hunger bites. Sometimes a bit of poaching is called for. But the books remind us of other lost arts, like 'spadgering', the catching of sparrows in nets for roasting, or the making of delicious puddings.

"Candleford, on the other hand, is impatiently improving itself. Commerce is burgeoning. Status and appearances matter. The pursuit of modernity is nowhere more evident than in the Post Office, in an age of rapidly growing communications.

"The contrast between these two places can be amusing, touching or often absurd, but the pace of change can throw up cutting human dilemmas, like the first showdown in the series when the two communities fall out over the cost of a telegram. This kind of thing matters when news of a long-lost brother's serious illness gets lost among Post Office regulations. Tensions spill over into open hostility, and Laura – newly arrived in Candleford – finds herself caught in
the crossfire.

"Having found the form for the series, my main problem was how to people it. The difficulty was what and who to leave out. Lark Rise To Candleford is bursting with great characters.

"Laura herself is a delightful combination of simple country girl, feisty, intelligent and courageous, but – most endearingly – she's insightful in ways that separate her.

She loves the world she comes from, but she is outgrowing it fast as she makes her way into adulthood. And her parents know this; that, as much as the pressing hardship they live under, is why they have sent her out into the world.

"Caroline Arless (Dawn French) is larger than life in every way – she loves to throw up her skirts and dance, she spends every penny she has on 'feathering the foam' – and some pennies she doesn't have, too. Her zest for life is winning and often funny, but debtors' prison is waiting for those who can't keep up.

"The Post Office itself is an important character in the make-up of the show: full of life, reaching out into the wider world, and bringing to it the foibles and frailties of the locals, not just of the town but of the surrounding countryside."

Pick of the week:
Lark Rise to Candleford, Sunday, BBC1, 7.40 pm.