Winifred Holtby

"Winifred Holtby realised that Local Government is not a dry affair of meetings and memoranda:- but 'the front-line defence thrown up by humanity against its common enemies of sickness, poverty and ignorance.' She built her story around six people working for a typical County Council:- Beneath the lives of the public servants runs the thread of their personal drama. Our story tells how a public life affects the private life; and how a man's personal sufferings make him what he is in public. " (imdb)

Sarah Burton returns to a small, working-class town in Yorkshire, as headmistress of a local, failing girls' school, full of idealism and opinions. Britain's unforgiving class system is in strict effect as Sarah tilts against windmills to try to give all of South Riding's young women a chance at education and realizing their dreams. (amazon.com)