Filmed versions of the novels of Jane Austen were recently aired on the PBS series "Masterpiece Classic," and now PBS is showing the film version of "Cranford," by the Victorian writer Elizabeth Gaskell.

"Cranford" airs on PBS on May 4, 11, and 18, and episodes can also be viewed on the PBS Web site.

Elizabeth Gaskell was a contemporary of the Bronte sisters, and in fact one of her best-known books is not a novel, but a biography she wrote of her friend Charlotte Bronte.