Lost in Austen
Encyclopedia
Lost in Austen is a four-part 2008 British television series for the ITV network, written by Guy Andrews
as a fantasy
adaptation of Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
. Loosely following the plot of Austen's novel, it sees a modern girl somehow transported into the events of the book via a portal located in her bathroom.
In December 2009 it was placed at 48 in the 'Top 50 TV Shows of the Noughties', a list published in The Times
(London).
, discovers the Pride and Prejudice character Elizabeth Bennet
in her bathroom. Amanda curiously steps through a secret doorway hidden in the wall that Elizabeth had shown her, and finds herself in the house of the Bennets, Longbourn, at the beginning of the novel. Amanda is trapped in this world, and Elizabeth is meanwhile in 21st century London
. Mr. Bennet is hospitable, and Amanda tries to ensure that the novel progresses as it should. Mr. Bingley visits Longbourn and appears to admire Amanda more than Jane. At the Meryton Assembly Hall she meets Mr. Darcy and Caroline Bingley. Amanda gets drunk and kisses Bingley, immediately regretting it. Later, Amanda then forces Jane to travel to the Bingleys' home in bad weather to get the novel back on track, but when she learns that this may give Jane a fatal attack of grippe (influenza
), Amanda follows her to save her.
Episode 2 – While caring for Jane at Netherfield Park, Amanda attempts to put a stop to Bingley's advances by telling him she is a lesbian
. On the way back to Longbourn, they meet Wickham when their carriage breaks down. Back at Longbourn, the Bennets are visited by Mr. Collins, the entailed
heir of their home. Amanda's initial hostility to Wickham leads to his spreading rumours that, despite her "£27,000 a year" (enormous by Georgian
standards), she is actually the daughter of a successful fishmonger. Amanda's attempts to set up Bingley and Jane fail, even when she sacrifices herself to marry Mr. Collins, for Mr. Collins' wife-to-be from the book, Charlotte Lucas, plans to go to Africa. Collins, on hearing that Amanda is the daughter of a fishmonger
, breaks off the engagement. Mr. Collins marries Jane, much to Bingley's disappointment. Amanda angrily accuses Darcy of spoiling his friend's chance of happiness, while she admits to herself that she is falling in love with him.
Episode 3 – After Mrs. Bennet ejects Amanda from Longbourn, Wickham prepares Amanda for society. Amanda then travels to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Collins, offering her friendship to Jane, and (trained by Wickham) bluffs her way into Rosings with a false message for Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She finds Darcy, Bingley and Caroline already at Rosings, where she and Darcy continue to argue about Mrs. Collins and Bingley's obvious unhappiness. Meanwhile, at Longbourn, Mrs. Bennet, after arguing with Mr. Bennet, decides to travel to the Collins parsonage to see Jane, taking Lydia with her. At the parsonage, Darcy complains that Amanda must like him, because she followed him to Rosings. She denies this, and blames him for following her; thus he virtually admits to Amanda that he loves her. After the arrival of Mrs. Bennet and Lydia, Darcy invites Amanda to Pemberley
. Mrs Bennet overhears his invitation and assumes she is invited too. At Pemberley with the Bennets and Mr. and Mrs. Collins, Amanda's hostility to Darcy wanes as she begins to feel that, in Elizabeth's absence, she must 'understudy' for her. She later learns that Darcy's sister Georgiana was in love with Wickham, and in response to his rejection of her advances, Georgiana told Darcy that Wickham "ravished her." Wickham maintains this falsehood to spare Georgiana's honour, which softens Amanda's hostility towards him. Meanwhile, Mr. Bingley is so heartbroken by Jane's marriage to Mr. Collins that he has taken to befriending Wickham, and drinking heavily. Jane tearfully pleads that he has a "moral duty ... to be happy for them both." Amanda and Darcy admit their love for each other, and Darcy later meets Bingley, who, in his drunken despair punches Darcy in the face. After Caroline's meddling, Amanda reveals to Darcy that she has already lost her virginity. Darcy retreats from his plans to marry her, angering Amanda so much that she rips out the pages of her Pride and Prejudice book and throws it out the window into the garden. While Amanda is packing to leave, Caroline, who has heard of Amanda's supposed lesbianism, appears and admits that her true attraction is to women; she makes a move on Amanda, who rejects her. Amanda later finds Darcy in the garden reading the book; they have a fierce argument, as he believes her to have written it as a roman à clef
without any respect for the actual persons.
Episode 4 – Just as Darcy announces his engagement to Bingley's sister Caroline, Mrs. Bennet receives a note telling of Lydia's elopement with Mr. Bingley. Travelling with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, and with the sudden appearance of a helpful Wickham, they find Lydia and Mr. Bingley hiding at a local inn in Hammersmith. Darcy arrives moments later, and the elopers admit that nothing happened between them, but an enraged Mr. Bennet attacks Bingley, whose self-defence causes Mr. Bennet's head to crack open. Amanda fears for Mr. Bennet's life and, strongly desiring Elizabeth's presence, bursts out of a door, finding herself in modern-day London. Amanda's old boyfriend drives her to Elizabeth, who has found work as a nanny
; on the way, Amanda spots in a busy London street none other than Darcy, who claims he followed her for love. Elizabeth has thoroughly embraced modern life and is shocked to meet Darcy, as she now knows the novel. Amanda hurries them back to her bathroom and the portal to Longbourn. Mr. Bennet returns home to make a full recovery and is reunited with his daughter, while Darcy regards his experience in modern London as a dream. Lady Catherine arrives at Longbourn and bargains for Amanda's disappearance from society by promising to annul
Jane's marriage to Mr. Collins on the grounds of non-consummation. Amanda agrees, and as Lady Catherine takes her leave, it is implied that Captain Wickham will make a play for Caroline. Jane and Bingley plan to leave their past behind and go to America as husband and wife. Elizabeth gets her father's blessing to return to (modern-day) Hammersmith, while Amanda stays and is reunited with Darcy in Pemberley.
. The first episode was shown on ITV at 9 pm on 3 September 2008, gaining 4.2 million viewers. The remaining episodes were broadcast on a weekly basis. Lost in Austen was released in the UK on DVD on 28 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 April 2009. It contains two discs with the four episodes plus a "Making of" documentary. It premiered in America on the Ovation Channel on 11 January 2009, and in Australia as a two-part series on the ABC
on 8 March 2009.
Amanda Price's workplace in Lost in Austen was filmed in Wakefield
at the disused Yorkshire Bank building on Westgate. The Beluga Lounge on Market Street, also in Wakefield, was the set of a London wine bar. Several areas inside and outside Cannon Hall at Cannon Hall Museum, near Barnsley
, feature in the production, including the oak-panelled ballroom. Leeds-based Screen Yorkshire told production company Mammoth Screen of the potential of some landscapes in the Wetherby
district as the setting for Lost in Austen. Filming took place at locations including Bramham Park
, parts of York
, and Leeds
City Markets. Harewood House
, near to Leeds, was the setting for Pemberley.
Thirty-one-year-old actor Elliot Cowan
(Mr Darcy) got the part when he was playing Henry V
, which in his words "has a similar sort of iconography within the theatre canon", so he was not worried. Christina Cole and lead actress Jemima Rooper previously starred together in the Sky One supernatural series Hex
, whilst Rooper and Mison appeared together shortly afterwards, again on ITV, in the Agatha Christie's Poirot
adaptation of Third Girl (first broadcast 28 September 2008). Alex Kingston
(Mrs Bennet) found a sadness in her character and played her as if she was "a woman unhappy in her marital situation. Her husband is, in essence, absent in the marriage and in the family, and she's a woman trying to keep everything together when she doesn't really have the emotional tools to do it. It's this that makes her twittery. I think people can be driven slowly to becoming those people by the unfortunate situations that they're in. [...] I think that Mr Bennet is absolutely culpable for his wife's twittering. She's overcompensating for her husband's absence."
.
Reviewing the first episode of the four-parter, a Times
writer described Lost in Austen as:
James Walton of The Daily Telegraph
noted that:
The Guardian
' s reviewer wrote:
Hermione Eyre in The Independent on Sunday wrote:
Reviewing episode two, Nancy Banks Smith in The Guardian
wrote:
Under the headline "creative revival is not enough to reverse ITV's historic low", Janine Gibson, editor-in-chief of Media Guardian wrote on 15 September 2008 that:
Reviewing episode three, Tim Teeman in The Times
wrote:
Reviewing the final episode Tim Teeman in The Times
continued his praise, giving the show five stars and writing:
Readers of the Media Guardian voted Lost in Austen their 16th favourite TV show of 2008, the first time an ITV drama has made the poll.
is attached as an executive producer.
Guy Andrews
Guy Andrews, educated at Cranleigh School and St. Peter's College, Oxford University, is a British television writer who has written for television programmes including "Lost in Austen", "Absolute Power", "Agatha Christie's Poirot", and "Chancer"....
as a fantasy
Fantasy television
Fantasy television is a genre of television programming featuring elements of the fantastic, often including magic, supernatural forces, or exotic fantasy worlds. Fantasy television programs are often based on tales from mythology and folklore, or are adapted from fantasy stories in other media...
adaptation of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
by Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. Loosely following the plot of Austen's novel, it sees a modern girl somehow transported into the events of the book via a portal located in her bathroom.
In December 2009 it was placed at 48 in the 'Top 50 TV Shows of the Noughties', a list published in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
(London).
Plot
Episode 1 – Amanda Price, a keen Jane Austen fan from present-day HammersmithHammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, discovers the Pride and Prejudice character Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet, later Elizabeth Darcy, is the protagonist in the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy by her friends and family...
in her bathroom. Amanda curiously steps through a secret doorway hidden in the wall that Elizabeth had shown her, and finds herself in the house of the Bennets, Longbourn, at the beginning of the novel. Amanda is trapped in this world, and Elizabeth is meanwhile in 21st century London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Mr. Bennet is hospitable, and Amanda tries to ensure that the novel progresses as it should. Mr. Bingley visits Longbourn and appears to admire Amanda more than Jane. At the Meryton Assembly Hall she meets Mr. Darcy and Caroline Bingley. Amanda gets drunk and kisses Bingley, immediately regretting it. Later, Amanda then forces Jane to travel to the Bingleys' home in bad weather to get the novel back on track, but when she learns that this may give Jane a fatal attack of grippe (influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
), Amanda follows her to save her.
Episode 2 – While caring for Jane at Netherfield Park, Amanda attempts to put a stop to Bingley's advances by telling him she is a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
. On the way back to Longbourn, they meet Wickham when their carriage breaks down. Back at Longbourn, the Bennets are visited by Mr. Collins, the entailed
Fee tail
At common law, fee tail or entail is an estate of inheritance in real property which cannot be sold, devised by will, or otherwise alienated by the owner, but which passes by operation of law to the owner's heirs upon his death...
heir of their home. Amanda's initial hostility to Wickham leads to his spreading rumours that, despite her "£27,000 a year" (enormous by Georgian
Georgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...
standards), she is actually the daughter of a successful fishmonger. Amanda's attempts to set up Bingley and Jane fail, even when she sacrifices herself to marry Mr. Collins, for Mr. Collins' wife-to-be from the book, Charlotte Lucas, plans to go to Africa. Collins, on hearing that Amanda is the daughter of a fishmonger
Fishmonger
A fishmonger is someone who sells fish and seafood...
, breaks off the engagement. Mr. Collins marries Jane, much to Bingley's disappointment. Amanda angrily accuses Darcy of spoiling his friend's chance of happiness, while she admits to herself that she is falling in love with him.
Episode 3 – After Mrs. Bennet ejects Amanda from Longbourn, Wickham prepares Amanda for society. Amanda then travels to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Collins, offering her friendship to Jane, and (trained by Wickham) bluffs her way into Rosings with a false message for Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She finds Darcy, Bingley and Caroline already at Rosings, where she and Darcy continue to argue about Mrs. Collins and Bingley's obvious unhappiness. Meanwhile, at Longbourn, Mrs. Bennet, after arguing with Mr. Bennet, decides to travel to the Collins parsonage to see Jane, taking Lydia with her. At the parsonage, Darcy complains that Amanda must like him, because she followed him to Rosings. She denies this, and blames him for following her; thus he virtually admits to Amanda that he loves her. After the arrival of Mrs. Bennet and Lydia, Darcy invites Amanda to Pemberley
Pemberley
Pemberley is the fictional country estate owned by Fitzwilliam Darcy, the male protagonist in Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. It is located near the fictional town of Lambton, and believed by some to be based on Chatsworth House, near Bakewell in Derbyshire.In describing the estate, Austen...
. Mrs Bennet overhears his invitation and assumes she is invited too. At Pemberley with the Bennets and Mr. and Mrs. Collins, Amanda's hostility to Darcy wanes as she begins to feel that, in Elizabeth's absence, she must 'understudy' for her. She later learns that Darcy's sister Georgiana was in love with Wickham, and in response to his rejection of her advances, Georgiana told Darcy that Wickham "ravished her." Wickham maintains this falsehood to spare Georgiana's honour, which softens Amanda's hostility towards him. Meanwhile, Mr. Bingley is so heartbroken by Jane's marriage to Mr. Collins that he has taken to befriending Wickham, and drinking heavily. Jane tearfully pleads that he has a "moral duty ... to be happy for them both." Amanda and Darcy admit their love for each other, and Darcy later meets Bingley, who, in his drunken despair punches Darcy in the face. After Caroline's meddling, Amanda reveals to Darcy that she has already lost her virginity. Darcy retreats from his plans to marry her, angering Amanda so much that she rips out the pages of her Pride and Prejudice book and throws it out the window into the garden. While Amanda is packing to leave, Caroline, who has heard of Amanda's supposed lesbianism, appears and admits that her true attraction is to women; she makes a move on Amanda, who rejects her. Amanda later finds Darcy in the garden reading the book; they have a fierce argument, as he believes her to have written it as a roman à clef
Roman à clef
Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...
without any respect for the actual persons.
Episode 4 – Just as Darcy announces his engagement to Bingley's sister Caroline, Mrs. Bennet receives a note telling of Lydia's elopement with Mr. Bingley. Travelling with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, and with the sudden appearance of a helpful Wickham, they find Lydia and Mr. Bingley hiding at a local inn in Hammersmith. Darcy arrives moments later, and the elopers admit that nothing happened between them, but an enraged Mr. Bennet attacks Bingley, whose self-defence causes Mr. Bennet's head to crack open. Amanda fears for Mr. Bennet's life and, strongly desiring Elizabeth's presence, bursts out of a door, finding herself in modern-day London. Amanda's old boyfriend drives her to Elizabeth, who has found work as a nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
; on the way, Amanda spots in a busy London street none other than Darcy, who claims he followed her for love. Elizabeth has thoroughly embraced modern life and is shocked to meet Darcy, as she now knows the novel. Amanda hurries them back to her bathroom and the portal to Longbourn. Mr. Bennet returns home to make a full recovery and is reunited with his daughter, while Darcy regards his experience in modern London as a dream. Lady Catherine arrives at Longbourn and bargains for Amanda's disappearance from society by promising to annul
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
Jane's marriage to Mr. Collins on the grounds of non-consummation. Amanda agrees, and as Lady Catherine takes her leave, it is implied that Captain Wickham will make a play for Caroline. Jane and Bingley plan to leave their past behind and go to America as husband and wife. Elizabeth gets her father's blessing to return to (modern-day) Hammersmith, while Amanda stays and is reunited with Darcy in Pemberley.
Cast
- Jemima RooperJemima RooperJemima Rooper is an English actress.- Background :Born in Hammersmith, London, Rooper is the daughter of TV journalist Alison Rooper. She attended Redcliffe Primary School in Chelsea, London and Godolphin and Latymer girls' school. While working on The Famous Five, she passed eight GCSEs with A*...
as Amanda Price - Elliot CowanElliot CowanElliot Cowan is an English actor, known for portraying Corporal Jem Poynton in Ultimate Force, Mr Darcy in Lost in Austen and Ptolemy in the 2004 film Alexander.-Background:...
as Fitzwilliam DarcyFitzwilliam DarcyFitzwilliam Darcy, generally referred to as Mr Darcy, is one of the two central characters in Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. He is an archetype of the aloof romantic hero, and a romantic interest of Elizabeth Bennet, the novel's protagonist... - Alex KingstonAlex KingstonAlexandra Elizabeth "Alex" Kingston is an English actress. She is most widely known for her roles as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER and as River Song in Doctor Who.-Early life and education:...
as Mrs. Bennet - Hugh BonnevilleHugh BonnevilleHugh Richard Bonneville Williams, known professionally as Hugh Bonneville , is an English stage, film, television and radio actor.-Education:...
as Mr. Claude Bennet - Morven ChristieMorven Christie-Life and career:Morven Christie grew up in Glasgow and Aviemore. She studied acting at the Drama Centre London, under Reuven Adiv, an associate of Lee Strasberg. She graduated in 2003. Christie has worked on stage, film and television drama since...
as Jane Bennet - Tom Riley as George Wickham
- Perdita WeeksPerdita WeeksPerdita Weeks is a British actress.-Biography:Perdita was born in South Glamorgan and studied art history at the Courtauld Institute.-Acting career:...
as Lydia Bennet - Gemma ArtertonGemma ArtertonGemma Arterton is an English actress. She played the eponymous protagonist in the BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and starred in the feature films St Trinian's, the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Tamara...
as Elizabeth BennetElizabeth BennetElizabeth Bennet, later Elizabeth Darcy, is the protagonist in the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy by her friends and family... - Christina ColeChristina ColeChristina Cole is an English actress known for portraying Cassie Hughes in the Sky One supernatural television series Hex.-Background:...
as Caroline Bingley - Florence HoathFlorence HoathFlorence Angela L. Hoath is a British actress best known for her 2005 appearances as Nancy in Doctor Who.The daughter of British actress Tina Martin, Hoath made her film debut in the 1993 screen adaptation of Secret Rapture at the age of eight...
as Catherine "Kitty" Bennet - Lindsay DuncanLindsay DuncanLindsay Vere Duncan, CBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actress. On stage she won two Olivier Awards and a Tony Award for her performance in Les Liaisons dangereuses and Private Lives , and she starred in several plays by Harold Pinter. Her most famous roles on television include:...
as Lady Catherine de Bourgh - Guy Henry as Mr. Collins
- Michelle DuncanMichelle DuncanMichelle Duncan is a Scottish actress. She was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland Award for her performance in Sea of Souls....
as Charlotte Lucas - Ruby BentallRuby BentallRuby Bentall is an English actress, known for playing Minnie in Lark Rise to Candleford and Mary Bennet in Lost in Austen.-Background:...
as Mary Bennet - Tom MisonTom MisonTom Mison is an English actor. He trained at the Webber-Douglas Academy.His theatre credits include 2009's When the Rain Stops Falling at the Almeida Theatre and Posh by Laura Wade at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010....
as Charles Bingley - Paul Hine as Cymbal Collins
- Gugu Mbatha-RawGugu Mbatha-RawGugu Mbatha-Raw is an English actress.- Life and career :Gugu Mbatha-Raw was born Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha in 1983, in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England. Her name, "Gugulethu", means pride in Zulu. Her mother, Anne, is an English nurse, and her father, Patrick Mbatha, is a South African...
as Pirhana, Amanda's friend. - Daniel PercivalDaniel PercivalDaniel Percival is an English television, theatre and film actor born in 1980 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. He has brown eyes and black hair, is 5' 10" tall, and is not to be confused with Daniel Percival, the British writer and director....
as Michael Dolan, Amanda's boyfriend.
Production
"Lost in Austen" was produced by Mammoth ScreenMammoth Screen
Mammoth Screen is a UK based independent production company that was established in 2007 by Michele Buck and Damien Timmer. It produces high quality drama for key UK broadcasters, especially ITV, and international distribution.- Forthcoming productions :...
. The first episode was shown on ITV at 9 pm on 3 September 2008, gaining 4.2 million viewers. The remaining episodes were broadcast on a weekly basis. Lost in Austen was released in the UK on DVD on 28 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 April 2009. It contains two discs with the four episodes plus a "Making of" documentary. It premiered in America on the Ovation Channel on 11 January 2009, and in Australia as a two-part series on the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
on 8 March 2009.
Amanda Price's workplace in Lost in Austen was filmed in Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
at the disused Yorkshire Bank building on Westgate. The Beluga Lounge on Market Street, also in Wakefield, was the set of a London wine bar. Several areas inside and outside Cannon Hall at Cannon Hall Museum, near Barnsley
Barnsley
Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...
, feature in the production, including the oak-panelled ballroom. Leeds-based Screen Yorkshire told production company Mammoth Screen of the potential of some landscapes in the Wetherby
Wetherby
Wetherby is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road, being mid-way between London and Edinburgh...
district as the setting for Lost in Austen. Filming took place at locations including Bramham Park
Bramham Park
Bramham Park is a country house between Leeds and Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England. The Baroque mansion was built in 1698 by Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley. It has remained in the ownership of Benson's descendents since its completion in 1710...
, parts of York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, and Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
City Markets. Harewood House
Harewood House
Harewood House is a country house located in Harewood , near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is a member of Treasure Houses of England, a marketing consortium for nine of the foremost stately homes in England...
, near to Leeds, was the setting for Pemberley.
Thirty-one-year-old actor Elliot Cowan
Elliot Cowan
Elliot Cowan is an English actor, known for portraying Corporal Jem Poynton in Ultimate Force, Mr Darcy in Lost in Austen and Ptolemy in the 2004 film Alexander.-Background:...
(Mr Darcy) got the part when he was playing Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
, which in his words "has a similar sort of iconography within the theatre canon", so he was not worried. Christina Cole and lead actress Jemima Rooper previously starred together in the Sky One supernatural series Hex
Hex (TV series)
Hex is a British television programme developed by Shine Limited and aired on the Sky One satellite channel. The story is about a remote English country school that becomes the battleground between a demonic entity and the witches who oppose it...
, whilst Rooper and Mison appeared together shortly afterwards, again on ITV, in the Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
adaptation of Third Girl (first broadcast 28 September 2008). Alex Kingston
Alex Kingston
Alexandra Elizabeth "Alex" Kingston is an English actress. She is most widely known for her roles as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER and as River Song in Doctor Who.-Early life and education:...
(Mrs Bennet) found a sadness in her character and played her as if she was "a woman unhappy in her marital situation. Her husband is, in essence, absent in the marriage and in the family, and she's a woman trying to keep everything together when she doesn't really have the emotional tools to do it. It's this that makes her twittery. I think people can be driven slowly to becoming those people by the unfortunate situations that they're in. [...] I think that Mr Bennet is absolutely culpable for his wife's twittering. She's overcompensating for her husband's absence."
Ratings
Lost in Austen won critical praise but struggled in the ratings against BBC One's hit series Who Do You Think You Are?. Consolidated ratings for the first episode averaged 4,185,000 individuals and a 17.6% share. The consolidated ratings for episode two averaged 3,489,000 individuals and a 14.8% share. The third episode's consolidated figures were 3,256,000 and a 13.2% share. According to overnight figures, Lost In Austen ended its run with 3.06m and 13.6% share. While the show could not match the slot average for the year of 3.8m (16.1%), it gave a significant boost to the commercial network's upmarket profile. Over the series, 46% of the show's audience came from the ABC1 demographic, an increase of 22.7% on the channel's performance that year of 37.5%.Critical reception
Lost in Austen was well received by the press throughout its run. Lost in Austen was the subject of various blogs, including a series by Sarah Dempster writing online in guardian.co.ukGuardian.co.uk
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
.
Reviewing the first episode of the four-parter, a Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
writer described Lost in Austen as:
"...a funny, clever breeze...It is a culture-clashing, time-clashing Walnut WhipWalnut WhipA Walnut Whip is a whirl-shaped cone of milk chocolate with a whipped vanilla fondant filling, topped with a half-walnut.-Origin:Launched in 1910 by Duncan's of Edinburgh, Walnut Whip is Nestlé Rowntree's oldest current brand. Over one million walnuts, most of them imported from China and India,...
of frothy nonsense with the intriguing proposition that Amanda may be able to change the outcome of her fictional touchstone."
James Walton of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
noted that:
"...this is not a sentence that you often hear – but it’s been a good week for drama on ITV1... last night brought us the first episode of Lost in Austen. Of course, as many people have already spotted from its shameless blending of Pride and Prejudice with Life on MarsLife on Mars (TV series)Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....
, the series does come with a distinct whiff of commercial calculation. Yet, so far at least, this only goes to show that commercial calculation can sometimes work rather well. The result can’t be called profound. Nonetheless, it does triumphantly achieve its main aim of being enormously good-natured fun."
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
"...so perfectly drawn is the world that begins to unfurl - and so sincere and endearing is Guy Andrews' script - that suspension of disbelief becomes part of the fun. It's a fantasy. A fairy tale... So, what's it all about? It's about self-sacrifice, basically, and the restorative wonder of both fantasy and classic literature. It's You Can Heal Your Bustle; Feel The Bonnet and Wear It Anyway. Do you need a working knowledge of the novel to enjoy it? No. I knew absolutely bugger all about any of it bar the basics - Darcy, wet nightshirt, um - but soon found myself immersed in the Bennets' world, buoyed along by a script that positively frolics in the glorious fussiness of Georgian mores... I loved it."
Hermione Eyre in The Independent on Sunday wrote:
"...somewhere in his youth or childhood, Michael Grade must have done something good. Lost In Austen is everything ITV needs it to be: entirely delightful nonsense. What sounded on paper like a cynical hybrid (bonnets and speed datingSpeed datingSpeed dating is a formalized matchmaking process or dating system whose purpose is to encourage people to meet a large number of new people. Its origins are credited to Rabbi Yaacov Deyo of Aish HaTorah, originally as a way to help Jewish singles meet and marry. "SpeedDating", as a single word, is...
! This will tick every woman's box!) has arrived on our screens pert, warm and funny. Like Billie Piper, Jemima Rooper is an entirely contemporary actress, effortlessly likeable and believable. Is it the hair? Is it the vowels? There's a sallySally-Military:*Sally , an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force*Sally, the Allied reporting name during World War II for the Imperial Japanese Armys Mitsubishi Ki-21 bomber-Names:...
like her in every shop on every street. She's every bint. A perfect time-travel companion. The faux-Austen dialogue trips off the cast's tongues ("Mr Darcy regards all forms of sudden locomotion as a mark of ill breeding" came out in seconds flat) and the daft, arch tone defibrillates the half-dead genre of period drama... This a sweet and foamy guilty pleasure, the advocaatAdvocaatAdvocaat is a rich and creamy liqueur made from eggs, sugar and brandy. It has a smooth, custard-like flavor and is similar to eggnog. In English-speaking countries it generally contains 15% alcohol , but in Continental Europe the typical alcohol content differs from country to country and is...
on the TV cocktail list."
Reviewing episode two, Nancy Banks Smith in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote:
"Lost in Austen (ITV1) continues, fruity and frothy like a jam omelette. This is the fantasy of a very modern girl, Amanda, lost in Pride and Prejudice. Her salary, £27,000 a year, caused some flutters, kicking Mr Darcy's pittance into touch. Mr Collins arrived, looking disturbingly like Disraeli, and Amanda noticed: "He squeezes himself through his trouser pocket. And Then He Sniffs His Fingers!" That's where a top hat comes in handy. Horrifyingly, in spite or because of Amanda's meddling, Mr Collins married Jane last night. Amazingly good for ITV. Surely some mistake here?".
Under the headline "creative revival is not enough to reverse ITV's historic low", Janine Gibson, editor-in-chief of Media Guardian wrote on 15 September 2008 that:
"...there are two strange things about Lost in Austen. All right, three if we include the premise. The first is that it's an ITV drama series that is getting almost universally good press and word of mouth. This hasn't happened for a while. Second, it's week two of a high-concept contemporary drama and there's no backlash. It's almost enough to start talk of a creative revival at ITV: flawed, but ambitious; a big ask, but answered with verve; polarising and a bit controversial. It is, in short, the sort of thing we've come to expect of BBC1."
Reviewing episode three, Tim Teeman in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote:
"Guy Andrews, the writer of Lost in Austen, is having so much fun filleting and perverting Pride and Prejudice — “frosty knickers” Caroline Bingley, a lesbian! — you may be becoming vexed as to how the mess that present-day Amanda is wreaking within Austen’s novel will be cleared up. This witty and moving drama’s major failing is we don’t know what Elizabeth Bennet is getting up to in modern-day Hammersmith. But it was fun to have Amanda ask Mr Darcy to emerge from the water so that she could indulge a fantasy she had only read on the page. “I’m having a weird, postmodern moment,” she noted. So were we: it felt good."
Reviewing the final episode Tim Teeman in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
continued his praise, giving the show five stars and writing:
"Guy Andrews (scriptwriter) and Dan Zeff (director) followed the relationships that Andrews had set askew through to their conclusion... This was wonderfully funny, sad and stirring: the music had me welling up... How clever to turn the time travel question to a radically conclusive purpose...I had another chocolate and marvelled at the sharp yet frothy, subversive-yet-utterly-respectful-of-Austen brilliance of it all. Those performances and the music zinged. It all zinged. Oh Mr Bennet, might we see you again perhaps in a longer-formatted series, or might that be a recipe for disaster? Was this a treat best served with brevity? Did anyone else check the cupboard in their bathroom afterwards . . . just in case?"
Readers of the Media Guardian voted Lost in Austen their 16th favourite TV show of 2008, the first time an ITV drama has made the poll.
Movie
On 11 February 2009, The Guardian newspaper reported that a movie version of the series was under development. Oscar-winning director Sam MendesSam Mendes
Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...
is attached as an executive producer.