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The Barchester Chronicles

Anthony Trollope's The Last Chronicle of Barset

Episode 1: The Way Things Are

Duration: 58 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 Extra

by Anthony Trollope
dramatised by Nick Warburton

Part One: The Way Things Are

In the sleepy village of Silverbridge, Henry Grantly has fallen in love again and Mr Crawley is to find that a butcher with a vengeance is someone to be reckoned with.

Music composed by David Tobin, Jeff Meegan and Julian Gallant.
Produced & directed by Marion Nancarrow

This is the final book in Anthony Trollope's Barchester Chronicles and many of the characters from both "The Small House at Allington" and "Framley Parsonage" return to finish his story of Barsetshire life set between 1855 and 1867. These 4 episodes focus in part on the story of the proud but impoverished vicar of Hogglestock, Josiah Crawley and the accusation that he has stolen and cashed a cheque. The whole of Barset has an opinion about Crawley's guilt or innocence, but no-one is more affected by it than Archdeacon Grantly's son, Henry, who has fallen in love with Crawley's daughter, Grace. Meanwhile, Johnny Eames has returned to try for the hand of Lily Dale, who is still devastated by the betrayal of her amoral fiance, Adolphus Crosbie. Happily, Mrs Baxter returns to tell the tale and give her inimitable opinion on events.

Maggie Steed stars as Mrs Baxter and is joined by Adam Kotz, Tim Pigott-Smith, Samuel Barnett and Scarlett Alice Johnson.

The Barchester Chronicles is Anthony Trollope's much-loved series of witty, gently satirical stories of provincial life set within the fictional cathedral town of Barchester and the surrounding county of Barsetshire. With a focus on the lives, loves and tribulations of the local clergy and rural gentry, the canvas is broad and colourful, with a wonderful set of iconic characters whose lives we become intimately involved in as they grow up, grow old and fall in or out of love and friendship across the years. Show less

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