Category: Movies

Jane Austen · Movies · News · Schedule of Events

from Persuasion to Pride & Prejudice

Janeite Kelly3 Comments

Our chapter must thank – and congratulate – Prof. Mary Ellen Bertolini (Middlebury College) for a stimulating talk March 1st on “The Grace to Deserve: Weighing Merit in Jane Austen’s Persuasion“. She brought up points that really made us all see aspects of the novel that we might not otherwise have ever contemplated. One new JASNA member, David from Montpelier, put into succinct words this reaction:

meb

“I did find the meeting well worth the drive. Professor Bertolini gave an impassioned, even dramatic lecture, and the insights she brought forth only enhanced my appreciation of Persuasion.”

About JASNA, and our Vermont meetings in general, David said, “I am an instructor in Political Science at the Community College of Vermont, and wish there were a study group for the US Constitution which approached that subject with the same thoughtful ease and depth that your group accomplishes with the works of Jane Austen.  …[C]onsider yourself an excellent resource – even oasis…”

At Sunday’s meeting, we announced a terrific upcoming event: A Pride & Prejudice Weekend at Bishop’s University in the Sherbrooke, Quebec area of Lennoxville. Saturday March 14th will feature:

ppDr. Peter Sabor (McGill), a member of JASNA,  on “Portraying Jane Austen: How Anonymous became a Celebrity”

Dr. Robert Morrison (Queen’s), on “Getting Around Pride & Prejudice: Gothicism, Fairy Tales & the Very World of all Us”

Dr. Steven Woodward (Bishop’s), on “Austen’s Narrative Voice: Film Adaptations of Pride & Prejudice“.

The symposium, running from 1-4 pm, will be followed by an English Tea with musical accompaniment by students from Bishop’s Music Department.

Then join the Drama Department in the 550-seat Centennial Theatre for its presentation of George Rideout’s new adaptation of Pride & Prejudice (8 pm). [Note: the play itself runs from 12-15 March, all at 8.]

Stay overnight, if you wish, at the university – and join them for Mass on Sunday, March 15 in the campus chapel. Then come to an informal gathering with writer George Rideout and director Gregory Tuck.

Cost (in Canadian dollars): General public: Symposium – $10 and Theater $15 (total for both: $25); students: Symposium $2 and Theater $8 (total for both: $10). Accommodation prices begin at $55. Tickets for both available through the Centennial Theatre box office: (819) 822-9692; campus accommodations through (819) 822-9651.

See their pp_press for full details and contact information. There will be costume prizes (!!) and a P&P quiz for participants to enter.

Jane Austen · Movies · News

Jane in the 21st Century ~ or Was There Life Before Blogs and Facebook?

BookLady Deb8 Comments

I have decided to open a Facebook account for our Jane Austen Region here in Vermont.  One, because I hear tell from the New York JASNA Region and a few others who have done this that it is great way to reach out to the younger people in the area who are Austen fans, and Two, because it is just so easy!

I had set up an account last April, but never did anything with it…no profile, no pictures, no postings – I mean really, who wants to know that daily goings-on of a bookworm anyway?  I envisioned posts like:  

  • Deborah bought an estate of books today. 
  • Deborah sold 3 books today.
  • Deborah cleaned and mylared 50 books today.
  • Deborah went to the post office today, same as yesterday.
  • Deborah spent too much time on her blogs today.
  • Deborah had peanut butter & jelly for lunch today – dinner isn’t looking much better.

etc.,  you get the picture; I mean really, WHO CARES?!

As my email was changing (thanks to the mighty Verizon-Fairpoint conversion), I was editing all my information on every site (a veritable nightmare), went into Facebookand found I had FIVE friends who wanted to connect with me.  So I quickly filled everything out, uploaded a picture, found more friends, and now feel like I am comfortably in the 21st-century, though quite sure I will not spend a lot of time there – I am already way-too-tied to the computer as it is – but I did set up this Jane Austen account and will use it to advertise our events and connect with other Austen-folks out there. [I invite you to join us!]

A quick search however, was quite the eye-opener – the number of Austen-related accounts is absolutely mind-boggling, the number of members in each even more so, and I didn’t even search every possible combination, so know there must be many more.  Some, like ours, are JASNA Chapter sites; some are quite funny; some anti-Austen / pro-Bronte, some hate Mr. Darcy, some want to be enslaved by Mr. Darcy!; some prefer Knightley or Henry Tilney [Mags, you should be running this one!]; and don’t even try to locate all the ones just on Pride & Prejudice – the book, the movies, the characters, the movie stars, on and on it goes.  I really do wonder if anyone actually works or studies anymore!  All manner of Austen-related things turn up – see for instance the recent “Austenbook” that renders the entire story of Pride & Prejudice into a Facebook posting – it’s near perfect!  http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook/

And as always,  a funny story ~ I was searching “Pride & Prejudice” and the results included all sorts combinations, and while scrolling down the first few, I discover my son’s name! – now this was a shock! – I mean my son is a great young man, but he and Jane Austen are like oil and water (he once called me from college to ask if she was dead yet!), and I have always tempered my effusions about her whilst in his presence – so as my son and I are “friends” on Facebook, I can look at his profile – and what to my surprise but I find he has listed P&P as one of his favorite books! – here’s his list:  Crime and Punishment, Siddhartha, Where the Red Fern Grows, Into Thin Air, Undaunted Courage, Killer Angels, Pride and Prejudice, The Incredible Journey, Into the Wild, Eiger Dreams – there it is in black & white!- every Austen-lover’s dream!  to pass it on!  I recall he read P&P in high school after I bribed him into it for a pair of hiking boots; he read it, passed a quiz on its finer points and did confess to liking it, but to go PUBLIC with that??!  Anyway, my faith is restored and I have hope for the world! [and he is adamant that it is not on there as a “chick-magnet”!]

So I give you a sampling [and member numbers on the date I searched]:  take your pick and join any and all!  It’s a whole new world out there – yikes! whatever would Jane say!  [note: I abbreviate her name (JA) and novel titles]

Searching “Jane Austen Society”:

                                                                                                 

  • The Honorable Ladies Society for the Appreciation of Jane Austen [JA]- 30
  • JA Appreciation Society – 25
  • People who are vexed by people who are vexed by JA society – 22
  • JA Tea Society – 10
  • JA Adoration society -1
  • The Mr. Collins Appreciation society – 231  [!]       mr-collins                                                                                                                            
  • PEERS [period events & entertainments re-creation society] – 184
  • I want to live in a costume drama – 173
  • JA made my expectations too high – 147 [with a “ditching Mr. Darcy” logo]
  • Students of a JA persuasion – 908
  • Ms. Sharp appreciation society – 77
  • Ultimate chick-flick appreciation society – 51
  • The Finer things club – 25
  • Bronte sisters pawn JA – 22
  • English Majors against JA [EMAJA] – 17
  • JA’s novels explain the universe – 13
  • Society for advocates for sound grammar & syntax – 13
  • The not so JA movie club –
  • I want to live in JA’s times – 7
  • Card & Quill society [see website: A Social Club for nostalgic ladies]
  • Amen to breeches, cravats & top hats! [with 5 reasons to join: Darcy, Wentworth, Mr. Thornton, Henry Tilney, & Roger Hamley]

Searching “Jane Austen”: [more than 500 results, many just names]

  • Jane Austen – 20,671 fans [+1; I just joined…]
  • JA fan club – 21,753
  • I love Mr. Darcy enough to make JA uncomfortable – 8,002
  • JA gave me unrealistic expectations of love – 4,393
  • I should be a JA character – 3, 185
  • JA books are ruining my sense of reality and I love it! – 2,617
  • Which JA character are you? – 4,013 [monthly active users]
  • Which JA heroine are you? – 1,168 [monthly users]

 

pp-penquin-coverSearching “Pride & Prejudice”:

  • Addicted to P&P – 15, 684
  • BBC P&P appreciation society – 6,792
  • I can recite the BBC version of P&P word for word – 3, 978
  • I can’t stop watching P&P! – 3,154
  • If my life could be a book, I would want it to be P&P – 859
  • Which P&P guy are you? -76
  • For the love of P&P – 840
  • Darcy is for lovers- we love P&P – 609
  • For those who ardently admire & adore P&P – 503
  • Why can’t we dance like they do in P&P? – 610
  • Not only have I seen the movie, but I’ve actually read P&P – 286

 

 Searching “Elizabeth Bennet”:

  • All I ever needed to know I learned from Elizabeth Bennet – 696
  • I love Mr. Darcy so much, it’s enough to make E.B. uncomfortable – 178
  • I wish I were E.B. – 154
  • In a perfect world, I’d be E.B., and Mr. Darcy would be my man – 125
  • My secret identity is E.B. – 24
  • I wish I were E.B. (so I could have sex with Mr. Darcy) – 6

Searching “Mr. Darcy”:

colinfirthdarcy

  • Colin Firth will always be my Mr. Darcy – 22,443
  • I refuse to settle for anything less than Mr. Darcy – 15,022
  • Every girl should have a Mr. Darcy in her life – 8,195
  • Take me to Pemberley, Mr. Darcy – 3,119
  • I have Mr. Darcy syndrome & it is f___ing up my life! – 771
  • Girls waiting for men to romantically wander out of the mists toward them – 1391
  • Mr. Darcy is an idiot – 45

Searching “Sense & Sensibility”:

  • We very much dislike Willoughby – 84
  • I know S&S by heart – 162

Searching “Mr. Knightley”:

  • Mr. Darcy … Mr Knightley… and other honorable gentlemen we love – 725
  • Mr. Knightley is better than Mr. Darcy – 36
  • I am going to marry one of the men in JA’s novels – 2,671

Searching “Henry Tilney”:

  • Basically I am in love with fictional men – 6, 129 [up to 6,164 today]
  • Henry Tilney is my gothic hero – 338

Searching  “Captain Wentworth”:

  • I love Captain Wentworth – 414
  • All the good men lived 200 years ago in lonely women’s imaginations – 527

************************

What’s scary is this is just a sampling!  and while we can assume there is overlap in numbers, we are still talking about upwards of 30,000 people! [shouldn’t we introduce them all to JASNA??] But I do take great comfort in the very obvious fact that Jane Austen in alive and well and joyfully being bandied about cyberspace! 

[Now I think I must needs go & create my own “I love my Captain Wentworth Paper-doll” page!]

captwentworth-paperdolls

Books · Jane Austen · Movies

Other P&Ps

Janeite Kelly12 Comments

ppAfter spending last weekend (see the post about Hyde Park) in an atmosphere dedicated to Austen’s Pride and Prejudice – where other B&Bers made use of the 1995 A&E video as well as the 1980 BBC DVD, I felt compelled to track down a copy of the Rintoul/Garvie TV miniseries from 1979/1980 produced by the BBC and aired here on Masterpiece Theatre. Was this what started off my own exploration into the life and works of Austen?? Bet it was! The theme music is oh-so familiar (from an album of Masterpiece Theatre themes now bundled away in a closet, or my own crude off-air tape recording??); the actors are also familiar, either by name or face. A few years younger than Garvie herself, I surely was captivated by this Austen adaptation.

Looking at the Internet Movie Database, we find these versions of Pride & Prejudice; everyone at the B&B wondered what else was out there, but we could not come up with a more definitive list than the usual suspects of 1940, 1980, 1995 and 2005:

1967 (UK; TV); Celia Bannerman as Elizabeth and Lewis Fiander as Mr Darcy. (6 episodes)

1958 (UK; TV); Alan Badel as Darcy and Jane Downs as Elizabeth. (6 episodes)

1952 (UK; TV); Thea Holme (!) is listed as Jane Austen (she wrote a delighful book on Jane Carlyle); Daphne Slater – Elizabeth; Peter Cushing (!) – Darcy (6 episodes); I’d give a lot to see Prunella Scales as Lydia!

1938 (TV???!! ; UK): Curigwen Lewis (Lizzy); Andrew Osborn (Darcy ) (55 minutes – oh my!)

An updating of P&P in 2003: with Lizzy (Kam Heskin) as a college student; Orlando Seale is her ‘Will’ Darcy; the 1940 film; 1980 and 1995 mini series; the newest film (2005), and of course the boisterous Bride & Prejudice, part of which I watched when in England in summer 2007. Don’t think that I’ve forgotten the Bridget Jones series — just not enough room or time to discuss this type of P&P.

In the BBC version, Moray Watson plays Mr Bennet – a familiar face from the likes of Rumpole of the Bailey. Somehow Mrs Bennet (Priscilla Morgan) reminds me of Prunella Scales as Mrs Fawlty, though toned-down. Mr Wickham (Peter Settelen) seemed a face recognized from somewhere: IMDB solved that one: he was Sandy in Flambards, which played here about the same time period as this P&P.

David Rintoul brings a hauteur rarely seen in Darcy — and not out of character. And those long, lingering looks at Lizzy! Charlotte Lucas is oh so right in noticing that this Darcy admires Miss Elizabeth Bennet, almost from the start. (Rintoul is possibly best remembered for his Doctor Finlay series in the 90s.) And Elizabeth Garvie is a quiet, but on-point Elizabeth Bennet. [I hadn’t realized that she lost her husband, actor Anton Rodgers, in December 2007…. he was in so many Britcoms that ran here in Vermont.]

I must agree with one Netflix reviewer who thought this version’s comic characters less over the top than the A&E series. How true: Mr Collins (Malcolm Rennie) is a delight as the silly and long-winded clergyman (can you imagine him in the pulpit???). I’ve yet to experience Judy Parfitts’ Lady Catherine, but have loved her in many shows, including The Jewel in the Crown. Charlotte Lucas (Irene Richard) is the voice of reason here, just as she is in the book. A wise head on those young shoulders (I will blog later on my thoughts that Charlotte at 27 is not quite ‘past it’…). And Lydia (Natalie Ogle) is sweet and flighty without being cloyingly annoying; Mary (Tessa Peake-Jones) is a talented-yet-can’t-really-play-or-sing-well middle sister who here DOES seem rather the obvious (and willing) choice for Mr Collins — she even reads Fordyce’s Sermons!; something Joe Wright and his screenwriter picked up on for their 2005 film. How much more conniving this Miss Bingley (Marsha Fitzalan) seems – you really feel her sticking the knife in. How REAL the characters seem when they are not caricatures.

Coincidently, Deb is also watching this version (actually, she’s comparing it to the 1995 version) — so you will be hearing more about Rintoul, Garvie et al quite soon.

Alistair Cooke’s thoughts on the series can be found in his A DECADE OF MASTERPIECE THEATRE MASTERPIECES (1981). Gosh!! how well I remember buying this large hardcover at Capitol Stationers on Burlington’s Church Street. Such memories… Cooke cattily comments that this series is “so squeakily clean as to suggest at times a doll’s house with doll-like emotions” but he goes on to praise Fay Weldon’s script which “was dramatized, over four careful years”. That care shows in so many lines from the novel expertly utilized. And who doesn’t know Weldon’s own work. Cooke quotes Weldon in a thought-provoking passage — “Miss Weldon explained why Jane Austen appears to many young readers remote and bewildering: ‘Partly because of the way in which it is written, partly because of the subtlety with which she examines the intricacies of human behavior, and mainly because the society she describes has gone forever. She anatomizes a world where women of a certain class can survive only through men…’.” Cooke again: “In all her novels, Jane Austen’s narrator is a dual character: the heroine as participant and the heroine (J.A.?) as onlooker.” A succinct description of Austen’s narrator, which here sides with Lizzy (and changes as Lizzy changes opinions) in how the reader is presented the world contained in the novel. Weldon’s “adaptation demonstrated a fine ear for the spare, exquisite language of the original and a ready talent for taking Jane’s maliciously cheerful view of social pretension.” Cooke goes so far as to say: “Viewers who dislike this Pride and Prejudice do not like Jane Austen”! I end with one Cooke comment that says something few would have dared think: “Dickens, the author-hero of his time, ends most of his romances on a love-dovey note that Jane would have giggled at.” Touché!

8 Feb 2009 update: after reading Joan’s email, I went back to IMDB – looking for Austen-related series and films. There turned up a De Vier dochters Bennet (1961). In German Vier is four, so the same undoubtedly holds for Dutch. So who got axed?? From the cast credits: Kitty!

I love that the 1967 production ‘labeled’ their episodes, thus: Pride (episode one); Proposal (2); Prejudice (3); Elopement (4); and (5) Destiny.

I am most surprised to see a new EMMA in the works! (listed as in pre-production, for television in 2009); the ‘trivia’ lists this a as production begun in 1995 – but put on hold because Miramax and Meridient were producing the same novel for film and TV. No cast announced.

Books · Jane Austen · Movies

Online Discussion: Sense & Sensibility

Janeite KellyLeave a comment

from the JASNA.org website:

Masterpiece Classic on PBS will rebroadcast Sense and Sensibility in two parts, on February 1 and 8, 2009. Check local listings for the schedule in your area. Professor Joan Ray, JASNA Past President, will lead an online discussion about the adaptation February 2-13 on the Barnes and Noble Classics Book Club website.

Barnes and Noble Book Clubs are free and open 24 hours a day. Use this link to join the discussion. Sign up is easy: click on the “Register” link (located in the upper left corner of the page, just above the “Classics” banner) and fill in the information when prompted.

Book reviews · Jane Austen · Movies · News · Regency England · Social Life & Customs

In My Mailbox ~

BookLady Deb1 Comment

I love my mailman ~ it seems he brings me a surprise almost daily!  Today, I find the latest issue of Jane Austen’s Regency World  [Jan/Feb 2009, Issue 37], and here give you some thoughts on the contents:

jarw_37_cover

“End of the Regency” about the soon to be released film on young Queen Victoria [March 2009 in Britain], starring Emily Blunt (on the cover above) as Victoria and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert (he starred in the 2005 P&P as Wickham and was fabulous in Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont) 

“Write-on” about the importance of correspondence and the ways of letter-writing in Jane Austen’s time

“Why I Dig Jane” a talk with Alan Titchmarsh, popular British TV personality, gardener, and novelist [his latest book, Folly, is set in Bath and currently on the British best-selling fiction list] ~ He confesses that his favorite character is Emma.

“Illustrating Jane Austen” an article on the incomparable Hugh Thomson

“Playing Mary Bennet” on the actress Ruby Bentall, who acted the role of Mary Bennet in the Lost in Austen series (“with spindly glasses and horrible hair”…)

“Pottery and Poetry” which traces the life of Thomasina Dennis, 1770-1809, a comtemporary of Austen’s who worked for the Wedgwood Pottery family.  The article includes some history of Josiah Wedgwood and his business [ironically, this week the Waterford / Wedgwood company announced it is filing for bankruptcy]

“Petticoat Politics” looks at the complex nature of Regency undergarments, never mentioned, but a large part of “dressing Jane” and her contemporaries

“Madame de Stael” and the story of why perhaps Jane Austen refused to attend a London literary salon at which Madame de Stael was to be present (could it have been her tempestuous love-life??)

“My Jane Austen” the column this month by Virginia Claire Tharrington on her months as an intern at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath (she also posted several weekly articles on Austenprose while she was there)

“A Goodly Heritage” by Marsha Huff, President of JASNA, on this past year’s Annual JASNA AGM in Chicago

“Portrait of a Lady” on the Jane Austen Society of the U.K. and the event presented in the fall by History Wardrobe on the fashion of Austen’s time

And Joceline Bury offers three book Reviews:  An Aristocratic Affair by Janet Gleeson, a biography of Henriette Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough and sister of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire [The American title is: Privilege and Scandal: The Remarkable Life of Harriet Spencer, Sister of Georgiana];  The Immortal Jane Austen by Maggie Lane, a no-frills biography of a mere 50 pages, but laced with many illustrations and highly recommended by the reviewer; and Jane Austen Visits London by Vera Quinn, the charming little book that concentrates only on Austen’s travels to and writings about London [see my comments on this book here.]

So all in all a fine issue, and a perfect way to spend the upcoming weekend, immersed in all things Regency!

Jane Austen · Movies · News

On the Block ~ Mr. Darcy…

BookLady Deb1 Comment

The portrait of Mr. Darcy (a.k.a. Colin Firth) that was used in the pivotal scene (Elizabeth gazing at Darcy’s portrait hanging in the portrait hall at Pemberley) in the 1995 A&E production of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice will be sold at auction on January 21, 2009 at Bonham’s Gentlemans Library Sale;  the sale also includes a letter from Firth.  The painting is expected to fetch £7,000 and the proceeds will go to charity ~ Oxfam and the Southampton and Winchester Vistors Group [see the Telegraph.co.uk and BBC News online for more information, including a downloadable copy of Firth’s letter at the BBC site ( and note the misspelling of “Pemberly” in the BBC article!)]

darcy-firth-portrait

Now, wouldn’t we all like this hanging in our very own Great Hall, or anywhere in the house for that matter!

[If , however, this is a little out of your league, you can always buy the Mr. Darcy keyring at the Jane Austen Centre for £2.99 … ]

darcykeyringlg

Books · Movies

Masterpiece Theatre ~ Tess

BookLady Deb2 Comments

tess-gemma-a

Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles premieres January 4th, 2009, launching a new season of MASTERPIECE CLASSIC, hosted by Laura Linney. Violated by one man, forsaken by another, Tess Durbeyfield (Gemma Arterton, Quantum of Solace; and as Elizabeth Bennet in Lost in Austen) is the spirited heroine, proving that love hurts but also survives. Hans Matheson (Dr. Zhivago) portrays her seducer, Alec, and Eddie Redmayne (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) stars as Angel, the idealistic man she loves.”  [see Masterpiece.org for complete information and online viewing; check your local PBS stations for times]

[Thomas Hardy is my SECOND favorite writer (Austen of course taking the first place honors!), so very much looking forward to this adaptation.  Will post a few thoughts on Hardy shortly….]

[and click here for the New York Times review of the film]

Jane Austen · Movies · News

A few tidbits…

BookLady Deb1 Comment

Lady Helga at the Jane Austen Podnovel has announced that each week shall be dedicated to one of Austen’s “golden couples” with new videos posted everyday.  She starts with Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy…

And speaking of Mr. Darcy, the blog on Colin Firth has returned … see Colin Firth – An Appreciation Redux.

And Laurel Ann at Austenprose wants to know which of the film adaptations has captured best the Mr. Darcy of YOUR imagination (as Dear Jane leaves it up to each of her readers to decide!)  See her post and vote!

But enough of Mr. Darcy …. who do YOU see as the next Mr. Knightley?  Mags at Austenblog is rooting for Richard Armitage (and all the comments seem to concur!)…and I must indeed follow suit- I believe he was born for the role!

 

richard-armitage4

 

Which leads me to the PBS schedule for the upcoming Masterpiece Classics…a perfect winter adventure! and Dickens wins by a long shot!  [please note that this is the full schedule from PBS; check your local listings for times] 

  • January 4 and 11th: Tess of the D’Urbervilles [Thomas Hardy]
  • January 18 and 25th: Wuthering Heights [Emily Bronte]
  • Feb 1 and 8th: Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen] – repeat from last season
  • February 15 and 22nd: Oliver Twist [Charles Dickens]
  • March 15 and 22nd: David Copperfield [Charles Dickens]
  • March 29 to April 26: Little Dorrit [Charles Dickens] ~ with Matthew MacFadyen!
  • May 3: The Old Curiosity Shop [Charles Dickens]
  • May 10:  Persuasion [Jane Austen] – repeat from last season
  • May 17:  My Boy Jack [about Kipling]- repeat from last season

dickens-reading

 

Makes one ALMOST look forward to winter!

Books · Movies · News

Dickens & Davies

BookLady Deb3 Comments

Tonight is the start of the BBC production of Dickens’ Little Dorrit [BBC 1, 8pm].  Andrew Davies, in yet another lavish costume drama of a classic, brings to the small screen Dickens’ tale of financial ruin, love, and mystery all rolled into one …  one hopes that by bringing this long-forgotten masterpiece back to life,  Davies will do what he has done for Austen and Gaskell among others, and inspire viewers to return to the books! 

 I have seen the Derek Jacobi 1988 BBC version several times, so looking forward to this new rendition with Matthew MacFadyen as Arthur Clennam and Claire Foy as Little Dorrit, along with quite the star-studded cast… see this short review from Digial Spy:

 

 

Often shows boast of having an “all-star cast” but in the case of Little Dorrit they really mean it. The roster includes (deep breath): Matthew Macfadyen, Freema Agyeman, Ruth Jones, Pam Ferris, Eve Myles, Andy Serkis, Amanda Redman, Russell Tovey, Bill Paterson, Maxine Peake, Annette Crosbie, Alun Armstrong and Mackenzie Crook, to name but a few. Surprisingly Judi Dench isn’t on the list. 
So, the key question: is it any good? Well, it’s a veeery slow starter – with fourteen episodes in the series, we should probably expect a bit of padding here and there – but once it gets going it’s reasonably intriguing. Personally I’m just pleased to see Mr Macfadyen back on the box in a regular role.
[from Digital Spy.co.uk]

  

 

Further reading: [a small sampling of the many articles…]

Books · Jane Austen · Movies

Location, Location…for Austen & Bronte

BookLady DebLeave a comment

East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley, West Yorkshire was the setting for Lost in Austen, its 17th-century  interior updated for Regency era style.  The house will also be the setting for the upcoming TV-remake of Wuthering Heights, to be broadcast in early 2009.  Click here for an article on the house.

For information on the Bronte production, click here for IMDV.  There is also yet another  screen version on tap (or sort-of) … see the Bronte Blog for the latest news of this not-quite-happening-yet production.