As the daughter of a middle-class parson, Margaret Hale has enjoyed a privileged upbringing in rural southern England. But when her father uproots the family, she is forced to adapt to a new life in Milton - a northern mill town in the throes of the industrial revolution.

Margaret is shocked by her new surroundings - the dirt, noise and gruffness of the people of Milton. However, she saves her greatest contempt for the mill-owners. When John Thornton, charismatic proprietor of Marlborough Mills, becomes a 'pupil' of her father, she makes her distaste for this vulgar and uneducated new class abundantly clear.

Over time, Margaret's attitude towards the mill workers begin to change and she joins their workplace struggles against poverty and disease. But will she ever change and she joins their workplace struggles against poverty and disease. But will she ever change her view of their employers - in particular, John Thornton who has secretly become her admirer?

Dramatic true-life story of Albert Pierrepoint (Timothy Spall), Britain's most notorious hangman. Following in the footsteps of his father and uncle before him, Albert joins the 'family business' in 1934. Living a secret life as a master hangman, as well as a humble grocery deliveryman and loyal husband, Pierrepoint's reputation as the most highly regarded executioner in the land results in him executing some of Britain's most infamous murderers including Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis, and also the Nazi war criminals convicted at the Nuremberg Trials. But the media coverage from these shatters Pierrepoint's closely guarded anonymity turning him into a minor celebrity.