Lark Rise To Candleford
John Dagleish plays Alf Arless
Alf is Caroline Arless's eldest son.
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He left school early to help provide for the family. Unlike his mother he is extremely honest and hard working. He is only a boy himself but is responsible for earning the majority of the family's money by working in the fields. It pains him to see his mother fritter his hard-earned pennies away.
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Alf has a close relationship with the Timmins family – Laura is particularly special to him as they have grown up together and they are close friends. Alf is just starting to see their friendship as something more when Laura tells him she is leaving. Robert is also important to Alf, always keeping an eye on him and offering fatherly advice in the absence of Walter.
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"My character, Alf, fills the boots of his dad who's away at sea," says John Dagleish, cast in his first role straight out of drama school. "So I guess he's the bread winner of the family, working in the fields. It's not an easy existence so it should come across as quite a hard life. His escape at the end of the day is to get his melodeon out and play some music.
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"The sorts of things that Alf has to deal with are his mother's drink problem and the fact that she's terrible with money, terrible at putting any money aside for food and rent. She'd rather live very well today than plan for tomorrow and Alf has to balance that out and gets into trouble with her by hiding money around the house.
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"But she's full of love and the house is always alive, even though they're down on their luck, it's always full of laughter and she's always making the children laugh. She's a real spirit of the community. As much as you judge her, you can't help falling in love with her. Her personality fills the room.
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"My character illustrates, there was no such thing as a teenager in this period of history. Alf is 18 years old, I think emotionally he is probably still a child as far as a lot of his experiences go. I guess he is your typical hard-working lad, he gets in to the joy of physical work, although it is hard work, it's that reward of knowing that you've done a really hard day's work.
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"He's very awkward around Laura because he's not emotionally mature to deal with what's going on. I think he assumed that they were going to end up together, because they've known each other from childhood and got on so well. It's what you did in rural communities, settle down and have a family.
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"His dreams of that are taken away when Laura goes away to Candleford and meets a much more sophisticated Philip, who's a lot worldlier, who can read and write, which Alf can't.
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"In terms of what audiences can expect, I think it's a very warm programme; it looks like an oil painting. It's like a living, breathing painting. It's a return to real classic family drama.
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"There is literally something for everybody; it's got its dark moments, it's very funny in places and very tender and dealt with very sensitively. I think it will be a good watch for everybody to sit together and watch. It's good to see the older characters mixing with the younger generation too."'
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