'Cranford' on PBS

It's been a good run on "Masterpiece Classic," which began in January with the start of a complete Jane Austen and ends this month with the three-part "Cranford," so it's only fitting for the series to go out with a bang. Or if not a bang, than a suitably stoic and subtle celebration of the tensions between passions and propriety, tradition and ambition that make 19th century Britain so fascinating to all us modern folk.

Adapted from the works of Elizabeth Gaskell, "Cranford" is the tale of a village so pastoral it fairly shimmers with verdant hills and bee-loud glades, peopled by doyennes so full of life and character they are played by the likes of Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton and Eileen Atkins. Who are just as marvelous as you would expect them to be, which is pretty darn marvelous.

In other words, "Cranford" is an Anglophile's dream date, with hollyhocks and tea sets to spare, the bonus of Julia Sawalha from "Absolutely Fabulous" playing an almost-spinster, and all the romance, betrayal and tragic misunderstanding village life can muster.

But it's also something deeper, and perhaps darker: a paean to a way of life that, for better and worse, is gone. Gaskell was a contemporary of Charles Dickens, and we see in her work some of the same themes Dickens explored -- the blind tyranny of the aristocracy, the importance of universal education, a call to recognize the humanity of the poor, and the need for society to serve its individuals rather than the other way around. None of which is close to being out of date.

We meet our cast of characters in 1842 and find them living in "elegant economy," desperately clinging to the old ways even as the modern age, most noticeably in the shape of the railroad, stands banging at the gates.

Miss Deborah Jenkyns is the local arbiter of propriety, and Atkins imbues her with a flinty compassion that will be immediately recognizable to anyone fortunate enough to have a Yankee grandmother. Her sister Matty (Dench) is the softer, more fluttery heart of the group that surrounds Miss Deborah, which includes the gossipy and hilarious Miss Pole (Staunton); the bovine-loving widow, Mrs. Forester (Julia McKenzie); and Mary Smith (Lisa Dillon), a young cousin Matty and Miss Deborah have recently taken in.