review for Catherine Cookson's The Wingless Bird on AllMovie

Through two love stories, this engrossing television miniseries attacks the British class system of the early 20th century. The actors perform convincingly, thanks in part to a splendid script by Alan Seymour and skillful direction by David Wheatley. The production centers on the Conway family, operators of a Newcastle sweet shop who can make every imaginable confection except a happy family life. Autocratic Arthur Conway (Frank Grimes), the head of the family, foments the domestic discord. Distrustful and easily incited to violence, he attempts to rule his wife and two daughters with peremptory dictums, all the while committing adultery and drinking to excess. Family conflict pustulates when one daughter becomes pregnant and marries down into the hoi polloi and another daughter -- the pivotal central character, Agnes -- marries up into gentry. Nobility and snobbery collide with commonality and tolerance even as horses and motorcars vie for preeminence on the streets. It is a new age, but old enemies, illness, and war test the mettle of the love that knows no class boundaries. Claire Skinner dominates the production with an outstanding performance as shopgirl Agnes, who has all the right attributes to attract men of every class: beauty, wit, sensitivity, and elusiveness. She also has a strong will and an uncompromising sense of right and wrong. Dame Catherine Cookson (1906-1998), who wrote the novel on which the film is based, called The Wingless Bird the best screen adaptation of any of her nearly 100 novels. Although the miniseries lasts more than two-and-a-half hours, it is never boring -- at least for audiences that enjoy the extraordinary drama of ordinary life.