The Wingless Bird (1997– ) User Reviews

high drama from the first lady of period fiction

[didi-5 · 8/10 · 9 June 2009]

Catherine Cookson was for many years the most borrowed and read writers from UK public libraries, and her novels remain popular years after her death. The TV adaptations which were made over a twenty year span generally do the books proud without making their thin plots seem ridiculous, and 'The Wingless Bird' is no exception.

Agnes Conway (Claire Skinner) is an independent young lady who works in her father's sweet shop. She's shielding her sister Jessie (Michelle Charles), who is having a secret romance with someone of a lower class, while herself engaging in an intrigue with the impossibly handsome Charles Farrier (Edward Atterton), the second son of a moneyed military family.

This is typical Cookson territory, really. There's high drama, attempted murders, disgrace, scandal, and a swathe of upper class snooty horrors including Charles' mother (Elspet Gray, perhaps still best known as mother to The Black Adder).

'The Wingless Bird' is engrossing, if predictable, fare, and is beautifully photographed and flawlessly played by its cast (Skinner in particular is excellent as are Anne Reid as her mother and Julian Wadham as the eldest Farrier son, Reg). A superior soapy drama.

Definitely worth a watch

[wheezer-28720 · 8/10 · 27 June 2022]

This three episode romantic drama was surprisingly well written and acted. Though somewhat dated (1996?) the production is still a nice watch for romantic period lovers.

The story revolves around Agnes, who is a shopgirl for her family's candy & tobacco business. It becomes obvious from the start that she is the glue that holds the family together. She is a bright young woman who speaks her mind and is quite clever at sorting out all the ups and downs of her family who is spinning out of control.

One evening she turns the head of a handsome young man who stops by for Christmas gifts. This meeting begins a relationship that will cause reverberations between her modest social position and his aristocratic family.

World War I is bearing down on England, and it soon brings changes for Agnes, and the other people in her life. She quickly proves her worth to all those who doubted her abilities. This is not a fluffy, frivolous story. It deals honestly with real life issues and tragedy, and draws us into her story as it unfolds.

Excellent.

[mfsor · 6/10 · 19 December 2005]

The middle classes were just as prejudiced as the upper classes were. The usual double standard, with the father having his mistress, and his wife bringing up the mistress's child, while refusing to show any sympathy for this child when she herself becomes pregnant. The attraction by the aristocrat for the shopkeeper's daughter did not strike me as real, nor did the aristocrat's mother refusal to see him. The premise that somebody from the real aristocracy would fall so easily in love with a shopgirl, well, I wonder how necessary it was to the story, whether something else could not have been invented for the purpose. The war scenes were well done. The lowest people of the classes were also a bit too nice (being dock people and all). But it was lovely to follow and the English towns were enjoyable.