[1] The series was a joint production of the BBC and WGBH Boston, an American public broadcast station and 'won high audience ratings' when it first screened in the UK in 1999.

[1] It focuses on Molly Gibson (Justine Waddell), the daughter of the town doctor and the changes that occur in her life after her widowed father chooses to remarry.

The union brings into her once-quiet life an ever-proper stepmother (Francesca Annis) who is 'too vain and shallow to care for anything beyond her improved social status'.

'[4] Written by Andrew Davies, produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Nicholas Renton, the programme also features Michael Gambon, Penelope Wilton, Bill Paterson and Rosamund Pike.

[6][7] Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire was used for Cumnor Towers, the grand family home Molly visits as a child when she first encounters her future step-mother.