Diane and I are big fans of Jane Austen. We’ve read her novels and seen many movie versions of those books. And, we’ve enjoyed over the years the PBS Masterpiece Theatre TV mini-series. We DVRed Sanditon in January and February and now we finally watched it.
Sanditon, Austen’s unfinished novel, offers a different experience from her previous novels. When Jane Austen died at the age of 41 in 1817, she had written 11 chapters of what was to be her final book. Andrew Davies takes the characters and the setting and spins a gripping 8 episode mini-series. Set during the Regency period between 1790 and 1820, the action revolves around architect Tom Parker’s dream of building a seaside resort at Sanditon. But, of course, the project encounters plenty of problems.
Many of the events of Sanditon involve country girl Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) who stays with the Parkers and initiates many of the plot lines. Tom Parker’s major financial backer, the wealthy Lady Denham (Anne Reid), presents difficulties. The rest of Lady Denham’s family consists of her rascal nephew Sir Edward Denham (Jack Fox) and his bitchy stepsister Esther (Charlotte Spencer), and Clara (Lily Sacofsky), a cunning niece and Lady Denhum’s live-in companion. They all vie for Lady Denham’s fortune.
No Jane Austen story would be complete without a darkly brooding love interest for Charlotte. In this case, it’s Sidney Parker (Theo James), Tom’s mysterious brother. Sidney is the guardian of a wealthy West Indian heiress, Miss Georgiana Lambe (Crystal Clarke).
If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, you’ll enjoy this mini-series. Great cast, and great stories! GRADE: A
Nah. Not a huge Austen fan, and this just didn’t interest us. I am just not a big fan of the period and neither is Jackie. Give me the mid-Victorian era.
Jeff, the Victorian Era is more interesting to me, too. But Andrew Davies shows the Regency Period holds some charms, too. The cast of SANDITON is very good.
I just saw Anne Reid on a strange show called TRAVEL MAN. She is actually more recognizable in period costume than she was in the jeans and work shirt she wore in Travel Man.
Anne Reid is 84 and yet she seems to be everywhere recently – LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX, YEARS AND YEARS, PHILIP K. DICK’S ELECTRIC DREAMS, HOLD THE SUNSET.
She often plays very unsympathetic characters.
Jeff, Anne Reid has grumpiness down to a fine art.
Don’t know it. I looked up TRAVEL MAN and did not see an Anne Reid episode. Maybe it was newer. What channel is it on?
Patti, Diane loves the period costumes in these PBS MASTERPIECE series. That part of the charm of these British mini-series for her.
I’ve read EMMA and P & P, and seen a few of the Austen movies, but don’t really consider myself an Austen fan, although I understand that this stuff appeals to a lot of people. What baffles me, though, are the extreme Anglophiles who watch virtually nothing but British TV. They subscribe to Acorn and Britbox (and maybe a few I’m unaware of), are glued to PBS every Sunday night, and have seen every British cop show, including all 10,000 episodes of “Midsomer Murders”. But ask them about “Mad Men” or “The Sopranos”, or “Deadwood”, and you just get a blank stare. I consider these people to be a harmless cult (unlike Trumpers), but wish someone would write a really good study of them.
Michael, we know a couple of ACORN and BRITBOX addicts. My major quibble with British TV programs is the accents require Closed Captioning.
Not. We get used to them quickly, and it’s not a problem. Turning on the captions just ruins the program, as then we just read the film and miss the camerawork.
Rick, the production values and camerawork in SANDITON is first-rate. Some of our friends object to sub-titles and Closed Captioning, too.
I’ll be passing on this one, George.
Somehow I never got the memo regarding how great Jane Austen is.
I was assigned her in high school and in college. Then, back in the day, a fellow bookseller was then president of the Wisconsin Jane Austen Society and urged me to take another shot. I tried a final time.
I’m tapping out.
Beth, I feel the same way about Proust. I’ve tried IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME three times and could make it through the first book!
We DVD’d it, and watched the first two, and really liked them. I’m not fanatical about Austin, but do enjoy some of her stuff in video. We got sidetracked on this one, not sure why, but intend to watch the rest soon. Thanks for the reminder.
I think a lot of people like the Brit show because they are often better than the US ones.
Rick, in general, I think the BBC and other British dramas feature better casts, better acting, and better production values.
I watched it all, but was just so so about it and if there’s a second season wouldn’t watch it
Maggie, SANDITON probably isn’t going to have a Second Season but WORLD ON FIRE is. I just received some email from PBS about it.
I only got thru one episode of that. Gave up on run after first episode as well