Striking it rich

A poor family goes up in the world in a lavish period drama

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NEW DRAMA

The Hardacres Monday, 9pm, Channel 5

The rapidly shifting fortunes of an impoverished Victorian family are at the heart of Channel 5's period drama The Hardacres.

Based on CL Skelton's novels, the six-parter is set in 1890s Yorkshire and centres on principled docker Sam Hardacre (Liam McMahon) and his fish-gutter wife Mary (Claire Cooper), who work for a fish merchant with their two eldest children, Joe and Liza, and Mary's shrewd mother Ma (Julie Graham).