Episode 1

Outcast from the church, community, and closest friends for a crime he did not commit, Silas Marner's trust and faith falls away.

A broken, disillusioned man, exiled, he builds a new faith, that will never let him down: gold. He weaves his cloths, counts his money, baptises himself with the coins of his new religion.

When tragedy strikes again and all his money is stolen he's bereft and grief stricken. Then on New Year's Eve a vision of gold flickers before the flames. Spilling locks are tumbling coins. For a moment Silas is reunited with his lovely sovereigns. And then he sees a little child.

First published in 1861, George Eliot's novel dramatised by Richard Cameron.

SILAS MARNER.............George Costigan
SARAH/PRISCILLA ............................Fiona Clarke
WILLIAM/JEM/GODFREY...........Conrad Nelson
MINISTER/MACEY.............Seamus O'Neill
SNELL/BRYCE..............Leigh Symonds
DUNSEY/DOWLAS..............James Nickerson
SQUIRE ............. ......Terence Wilton
DOLLY............. ...Deborah McAndrew
AARON (child).............................George Herbert
NANCY/MOLLY........ ........Maeve Larkin

Director: Pauline Harris.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.