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4 Episodes 1993 - 1993
Episode 1
240 mins
Disturbed by the rise of the industrial age in Lancashire, in 1828 John Wroe founds a religious sect to retreat from the world in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. Proclaiming in church that God has called upon him to take seven virgins into his care, he chooses from his congregation and Leah is one of them. A flighty girl who secretly has a baby son, she is nevertheless persuaded by her sister to accept the offer and maintain the deception. She becomes sceptical of the order while she is there, but also becomes aware that Wroe finds her sexually attractive. But through misinterpretations, tragedies and her own desires she sets in motion a chain of actions that will eventually bring about their downfall.
Episode 2
240 mins
Joanna Barnford is delighted to be chosen as one of the seven virgins chosen to live with preacher John Wroe and is eager to help preach the word of the Bible in Lancashire. But her enthusiasm is dimmed by Wroe, who expects his women to limit their work to his home. Haunted by a dream, she relays it to Wroe, who uses it to interpret it to her that she is to bear the son of God through him in order to sleep with her. As she becomes disillusioned, a couple of tragedies at the sect when she is in charge only adds to her already fragile state, but it is Leah's allegations to the elders about Wroe that threatens to tear the sect apart completely.
Episode 3
240 mins
Pushed by her God fearing relatives to accept the position as one of preacher John Wroe's virgins, non believer Hannah goes to live at the home but becomes impressed by a speech Wroe does against the mill industry. Witnessing a child being injured by machinery in a mill, she is horrified at conditions and the poverty of the workers and becomes convinced that action is what is needed in order to improve their people's lives. It brings her into conflict with the pessimistic Wroe, but gradually there grows an understanding between the two as her activism continues and his position thaws. But when Leah misinterprets a scene between the two when she spies them through the window one night, it is the catalyst for Wroe's downfall.
Episode 4
240 mins
Illiterate and slow witted Martha comes into the care of the sect after her father put her forward to be accepted there. Seemingly mute, under the care of Joanna she learns to speak again and read, though not everyone is kind there. She attracts the attentions of Wroe, who is taken by her innocence and total faith in him and his teachings, but later uses this to take advantage of her. But she is also haunted by hazy memories of her past and a childhood tragedy, and when she starts having prophetic dreams, their accuracy begins to prove unsettling for some.