Claim: Rosamund Pike worked with a director.

Wives and Daughters is a 1999 four-part BBC serial adapted from the novel Wives and Daughters : An Everyday Story by Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell .   The series was a joint production of the BBC and WGBH Boston , an American public broadcast station and ` won high audience ratings ' when it first screened in the UK in 1999 . Its audience rivalry with an adaptation of Charles Dickens ' Oliver Twist , screened on ITV at the same time , was dubbed ` the battle of the bonnets ' . It appeared in the US on BBC America in August 2000 and was later shown on PBS .   It focuses on Molly Gibson -LRB- Justine Waddell -RRB- , the daughter of the town doctor , and the changes that occur in her life after her widowed father chooses to remarry . The union brings into her once-quiet life an ever-proper stepmother -LRB- Francesca Annis -RRB- who is ` too vain and shallow to care for anything beyond her improved social status ' . Also a flirtatious stepsister , Cynthia -LRB- Keeley Hawes -RRB- , while a friendship with the local squire brings about an unexpected romance . A New York Times review of the series in 2001 said ` The entire cast gets the characters right . '   Written by Andrew Davies , produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Nicholas Renton , the programme also features Michael Gambon , Penelope Wilton , Bill Paterson and Rosamund Pike .   Davies and Birtwistle collaborated on the BBC 's television popular adaptation of Jane Austen 's Pride and Prejudice in 1995 . Following that success the BBC ` effectively told the duo they could adapt any book they wished ' leading to Wives and Daughters . Birtwhistle described Gaskell 's novel as ` strong , direct and passionate ' and this offered ` the necessary elements for a popular classic TV drama ' .   At the 2000 BAFTA awards the series was nominated for seven awards and won four including Best Actor -LRB- Television -RRB- for Michael Gambon as Squire Hamley . Gambon 's performance was described as : ` Gruff on the outside , with a huge sentimental streak , the country squire is a familiar type , but he makes him seem endearing and fresh . '   Filming was based at Elstree Studios with additional scenes shot at historic properties across England . Great Chalfield Manor , Wiltshire was used for exterior scenes for the Hamley family home , while interior scenes were filmed at Levens Hall in Kendal , Cumbria . Wentworth Woodhouse , South Yorkshire was used for Cumnor Towers , the grand family home Molly visits as a child when she first encounters her future step-mother . Additional outdoor scenes were shot at Dyrham Park in South Gloucestershire ; the National Trust property was closed to the public for three days while these scenes were shot .