I finally figured it out. Fry used Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë as his primary source, and the narration is from the Life as read by Gaskell as portrayed by Barbara Leigh-Hunt. No wonder it seemed like an enactment of the bio I just read, it is!
This image shows the Bronte family as portrayed in the TV mini-series. Charlotte is in the center, played by Vickery Turner. Emily, played by Rosemary McHale, is to her left. Ann Penfold, playing Anne Bronte, is in front. Michael Kitchen is Branwell, and Alfred Burke is Patrick Bronte.
Episode 3 is eventful with Branwell's seduction and subsequent disgrace, the publication of the book of poems by the Misters Bell, the attempt at a school at Haworth, Patrick Brontë's eye surgery, and the peddling of Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, and The Professor. We also get to meet Arthur Bell Nicholls, played by a young bewhiskered Benjamin Whitrow, who happens to be my favorite Mr. Bennet. I forgot that Mr. Nicholls knew Charlotte for some time, having been her father's curate at Haworth, and he evidently admired Charlotte from the beginning of their acquaintance, according to Fry, and she admired him as well.
Here's a link to my post on episode 2, and the post on episode 1.
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