Country Matters: The Four Beauties by H. E. Bates (1973)

"There where times when I wouldn't have been surprised if the café, with the Davenports inside it, were to vanish like a ghost into thin air... In fact, that was very nearly what happened" - Henry Batley Produced for Granada Television, The Four Beauties is a short story written by H.E. Bates and stars Michael Kitchen as a young journalist who is staying at a village bed and breakfast. The landlady, played by Zene Walker, has three daughters, Tina (played by Veronica Quilligan) Sophie (Jan Francis) Christabel (Kate Nelligan) whom, one by one each fall for him. This episode was originally broadcast on the 11th March, 1973. Two series of Country Matters, each featuring individual stories of rural romance among people living in the countryside. Both series where awarded with a BAFTA for Best British Drama, though for some unexplained reason the series has only received a DVD release in North America and remans an import only title. Shot beautifully on film and on location, I'd love to one day see it restored in high definition, its my personal favourite episode from the series and contains one of my favourite performances from Jan Francis so I took the liberty to upload it here. *This episode was previously available on another YouTube channel but presented in much poorer quality.