South Riding — Season 1, Episode 8: Beggars and Choosers

Episode synopsis

Squire Robert Carne is stunned when he finds the bank will lend him no more money, while attempts to raise money elsewhere fall embarrassingly flat. But many in South Riding are struggling for money during the Great Depression. Fred Mitchell finds himself unemployed by his Insurance firm, much to his wife's dismay, who is even more distraught at the prospect of him putting in for Public Assistance to the local council. Barney Holly also finds himself without a job after pub landlord Tom Sawdon finally tires of his lax work ethics, but both later receive devastating news. And lay preacher Alfred Huggins receives an unexpected and unwelcome visitor as old sins come back to haunt him.

About South Riding

Headmistress Sarah Burton, a left-wing feminist, is disgusted by the social injustices faced by her pupils. In spite of her beliefs, she reluctantly finds herself falling in love with a Tory landowner whose wife is suffering from insanity.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1The Powers That Be
• E2A Land of Hope and Glory?
• E3Those For and Those Against
• E4A Time to Live and a Time to Die
• E5The Facts of Life
• E6In Sickness and in Health
• E7Dreams and Destinations
• E9Take What You Want ~ and Pay for It
• E10The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away
• E11The Number of Our Days
• E12Forgive Us Our Trespasses
• E13Give Us This Day