Neil Dudgeon and Tim McInnerny celebrity with this epic tale of money, passion and defiance, inspired with the ‘Five Cities’ novels of Arnold Bennett

Within this radical reinterpretation of Arnold Bennett’s classic novels set in the Staffordshire potteries, it is the 19th Century and the Industrial Revolution is at full throttle. Just the ruthless thrive within this uncompromising world – and Ephraim Tellwright and Darius Clayhanger are both identified to succeed.

From humble beginnings, these two self-made males about China Towns: Predicated on the Five Towns Novels: BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations have risen to become wealthy and powerful. Today, they hold the fate from the Five Towns in their hands, moving judgement on those that put the success and trustworthiness of their community in danger…

Over 11 hours and nearly 40 years, we follow them, their descendants as well as the inhabitants of Bursley as well as the Five Towns, simply because individuals rise, fall, flourish, age and see the world around them become unrecognisable, transformed by new technology. Fortunes are lost, hearts broken, empires built and compromises produced.

These tales of aspiration and passion, damage and danger are told with Bennett’s forensic eye for human psychology and a unexpected degree of witty comedy, and show a star cast including Emma Cunniffe, Kate O’Flynn, Don Gilet and Rebekah Staton.