To think Marianne shouldn't have married Colonel Brandon?

[squoosh]

Okay Willoughby was a cad and a bounder and took himself out of the running, but I do think that Brandon swooped in to take advantage of her rain induced fever which had left her a bit dazed and compliant.

It's a bit creepy that he falls in love with her because she reminds him of his long lost, 'fallen', dead love. Plus he's a bit intense, the laughs wouldn't be forthcoming and I'll warrant he expected her to do all kinds of dark shit in the bedroom.

Ideally she'd have had another couple of seasons in London and met lots of nice suitors or maybe even nipped across to Pride and Prejudice and married that nice Colonel Fitzwilliam.

Brandon's only 35 - hardly The Age of Impotence! :)

Agree that the TV thing with Ann Elliot running through the streets of Bath is ridiculous.

I reckon Marianne eventually ends up having an affair with Willoughby after marrying Colonel Brandon. Willoughby comes back 10 years later all contrite and reignites her passion. As they are making out upstairs Colonel Brandon is sat in the kitchen soaking his feet and nursing his bunions oblivious to whats happening in the drawing room.

David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie are my definitive Darcy and Lizzie. I think I was about 12 when I watched this 80s BBC production and the scriptwriter was Fay Weldon who was very faithful to the novel
www.google.co.uk/search?q=david+rintoul+and+elizabeth+garvie&safe=active&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ljIWUq3pCoa-0QX8h4GoBA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAA&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i%7C5%3Bd%7C6NrR8ynnPg0vwM%3A

No, I mean when he's older and Marianne has reached her sexual peak and is bored and frustrated.

I'd run through the streets of Bath to get to Captain Wentworth. Decorum be damned! I thought Sally Hawkins was a lovely Anne.

I think Richard Armitage would have made a fab Darcy. Phwoarr!!

I reckon Marianne eventually ends up having an affair with Willoughby after marrying Colonel Brandon. Willoughby comes back 10 years later all contrite and reignites her passion. As they are making out upstairs Colonel Brandon is sat in the kitchen soaking his feet and nursing his bunions oblivious to whats happening in the drawing room.

But when the affair was uncovered Colonel Brandon would exact a truly awful revenge. He'd go more than a bit unhinged.

Oh yes Richard Armitage in North And South he really is fanciable. I LOVE Elizabeth Gaskell and it is said that JA paved the way for the later novelists so we have to thank her for that.

When is one's sexual peak, then? 30-ish? So Brandon will only be 48 then? Dp is 45 - he's coping well so far!

Maybe she was running through the streets looking for her 'lost bloom'.

Men's sexual peak is about 17 apparently.

Poor men.

Fanny and Marianne are rather alike: both pursue their "true love" romantically and regardless of social propriety or expectation (so ungrateful of Fanny not to accept Henry and get herself off Sir Thomas's books, especially when Henry really was in love with her). In Fanny's case luck turns so that everyone thinks that was the right thing to do while in Marianne's case everyone acknowledges that she was a fool.

I rather fancy Brandon, even in the book, but can't stand Edmund. Never understood why Miss Tilney wanted him

Crawford, not Tilney

I think that bit was daft, too. Definitely not Anne Eliot. Apparently JA altered the ending of Persuasion because of her impending death and wrapped the whole thing up a bit abruptly.

Persuasion is my favourite, I think. Seems more authentic than the others, somehow....

Miss Tilney only wanted him to 'play' with, and to prove she could have him if she wanted him, I guess.

I thought that this girl made a lovely Catherine Norland btw.

Crawford!

Going back to the subject of sequels and similar, I've just read "Longbourn" by Jo Baker, which is Pride & Prejudice from the servants' point of view. It is really good, though it does make you see P&P in a slightly new light, and most of the main characters - Darcy, Elizabeth, Mr Bennet - become much less sympathetic. She is quite kind to Charlotte and Mr Collins, though.

Including that dreadful Robin Hood

There were lots of things I liked about it, not just RA. But a lot of frustrating/daft things too. I love the RH story though, I will watch any version of it. But a lot of fangirls could have written the BBC one better than the actual writers.

I think Richard Armitage would have made a fab Darcy. Phwoarr!!

YY. John Thornton is a more interesting character though IMO. And yes, in the book too. RA was maybe slightly on the young side for the BBC Darcy in 1995. He's 42 today, did you know? DH is 23 days older...

John Thornton lived with his mother, it would have to be a 'no' on that basis alone, add to the fact that she was a complete bat and it's a big fat no.

I do love the end scene though!

hackmum I saw that advertised the other day and wondered about it, so many of these books based on Austen's novels are just awful. That one sounds quite interesting.

I Sally Hawkins too, esp in Happy Go Lucky. But her Anne was a bit too intense I think. I kind of like the passivity of Anne, and the understated build up of their reunion.
I just wasn't keen on that production, but then I'm always critical of TV/movies made from books I love (I always watch them though ).

That servants view of P&P sounds interesting...anyone else got any opinions on it?

I have never read a decent sequel/spin off (Emma Tennant stands out as particularly toe-curlingly awful) but am currently reading, 'Lady Catherine's Necklace' by Joan Aiken. It's actually quite amusing so far.

JT supported his mum and sister after they were made destitute by his feckless dad. It was more that they were living with him than the other way round. I would get on with his mum if she were like the Sinead Cusack portrayal.