"and where the f*** did the Dawn French character come from?"
that character is in the Lark Rise section of the book, but she doesn't behave at all the way Dawn French portays her and is, indeed, a much more minor character all round.

what I should have said in my previous posting is Laura Ashley Meets The Archers, and folk music actually plays little part in the books. Indeed there is a scene where a melodeon player is actually playing "the popular tunes of the day", to quote Flora Thompson, and that the "old ways" were fast dying out, even then.