To think that this scene from the Firth/Ehle P&P adaptation is one of the best TV moments?

[NoUnicornsToSeeHere]

On maternity leave and just rewatched the first proposal scene from the BBC Pride and Prejudice adaptation (on iPlayer at the moment).

It may be over 20 years old, as the sound and colour quality date it slightly, but it just is perfect TV...

AIBU?

It's one of my favourite books in all the world and I think the 2005 adaptation with Keira Knightley is PERFECT. Can't be topped.

I agree peachgreen I love the 2005 version with Keira Knightly. Its on Nordic Netflixs at the moment, I've watched it tons.

I went back to work on weekends when PFB was 4 months old. DH likes a movie in the afternoons but I wouldn't let him watch bangs, crashes, shouting and explosions. PFB wasn't going to grow up thinking that was a normal way to live. P&P got a massive workout.

I think that's how pfb learned to talk as she was complimented on her diction from an early age.

I'm another vote for Ciaran Hinds in Persuasion. And along that line, Ciaran Hinds with Saskia Reeves in December Bride is fabulous.

Yabu, it wouldn't be as good as it is without the superlative writing of miss Austen. They were wise to make such a faithful adaptation

Few adaptations of books truly work but this is one of them.

That scene is SO well written.

Although I must admit I thought Alison steadman's mrs Bennett ott. But Benjamin whitrow played mr Bennett spot on! And I loved Adrian Lukis as the caddish wickham!

"but I do have a gripe in that I've no idea why Darcy thought Elizabeth was in love with him" that's the point! He was too proud to think beyond his love for her! Typical man, thinking his loving her was enough to make her accept his proposal. Also remember at this time people rarely married primarily for love, love marriages are a relatively recent concept. People then generally married for wealth and status, iirc 'mr' Darcy was also titled - Mrs bennett's characters job to make that clear.

Spreadingcudweed it's on Netflix, is it possibly on that where u are?

"well colin firth and jennifer elhe were shagging at the time" usually Joey tribbiani's theory proves true when that's the case! And there's sod all chemistry and the tv series/film ends up a dud!

Mr and Mrs smith?
Daredevil?
Going the distance?

He had TEN THOUSAND A YEAR!!!

Of course he thought she'd just accept.

Love this! Haven’t watched it for a good few years! It’s on my Maternity Leave list!

What? The good version us on BBC i player?

That's my weekend sorted

YANBU! I watched this with my mum when it first came out and recently rewatched the entire series on iPlayer. DH HATES period dramas of any kind but he decided to sit through the first episode as he was doing something on his phone while I watched it. He was hooked and we binged the whole series. It really is a fantastic adaptation.

My claim to fame is that I got to take Mr Darcy clothes off....

... a mannequin!

I worked at a gallery that had an exhibition of some of the costumes from the tv adaptation including a Darcy outfit. When the exhibition was taken down I made sure I got to undress him!

Mr Bennet is excellently played. I love the delivery of, “Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins... and I will never see you again if you do.”

So do I Tea. Not to mention "You ha e delighted us long enough" poor Mary!!

The piano scene for sure is my favourite😍
The whole thing is perfect, from Lizzie and Darcy, Bingley, Mr Collins, Lady C, a true treasure of a show.

As much as I do like Dame Judi, her Lady C d B is a pale imitation.

I love the casting in the BBC P&P series, even if some of the ages are quite a bit off. I always think of Steadman's Mrs Bennett as being very true to the book, but it might be because we read it for GCSE at school and we had a fantastic but utterly bonkers English teacher who would read her lines in a similarly demented fashion! :D

I often think that adaptations go a bit too lightly on Mr Bennett's irresponsibility though.

Yes Metal - wasn't Julia Sawalha older than Jennifer Ehle? They were both so perfect for those roles though.

Must watch it again asap!

Yes I love that scene, also the buildup to it which causes it to pan out the way it does. The fact Lizzie has no inkling of Darcy's feelings for her and that he chooses the worst possible moment to propose, when she has just found out he has blocked her sister's marriage hopes.

Also the way Darcy's proposal echoes Mr Collins's...although the 2 of them are poles apart otherwise, both of them are arrogant enough to think they are doing her a massive favour by proposing and take for granted that of course she will jump at accepting them. She is a lot kinder to Collins though than she is to Darcy.

OVER 20 YEARS AGO. !!!!
Couldn’t get beyond that OP. I remember it as a little while back. Now I just feel old.

OVER 20 YEARS AGO. !!!!
Couldn’t get beyond that OP. I remember it as a little while back. Now I just feel old.

Constantly feel like that lately

Started a thread on it recently cos I cannot get over a bearded grown up sleazy Haley Joel Osment (wee boy in 6th sense) in future man!

I love the 1995 version, but it does have its issues - all the actors are far too old for the roles, and everything looks too clean. The 2005 Keira Knightley version is unfairly criticised in my view - while it’s also not perfect, it captures the general grubbiness of rural regency life better than the 1995 one, and Keira is very good.

I was persuaded by this thread to give the KK film another go. No, still rubbish imo with KK gurning all over the place . I think for me the charm of the 1995 version was that we didn't see Mr D even crack a smile til the end of the series.

I could be persuaded that Brenda Blethyn did a slightly better job than Alison Steadman, but that is as far as I will go...... :)

I agree that KK just spoiled the 2005 version for me, she just made Lizzie come across as obnoxious and rude which in the book she definitely isn't. Couldn't bear all the grimacing either.

I did like Brenda Blethyn's Mrs B as well but Alison Steadman's is probably closer. JA does make her a caricature which imo is rather harsh. She is trying to do the right thing by her daughters in getting them married off. Mr B is really the more culpable parent by being so passive and hands-off when he is intelligent enough to know better. It seems unfair that he gets off relatively lightly.

Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon still does it for me :-)

P&P is a comedy and Mrs B is a caricature. Alison Steadman nails it, as far as I'm concerned.

Like Lizzie, you're supposed to feel absolute horror at some of the things she comes out with, and at how wrong she gets it. It's supposed to be painful to watch and hear - after all, she's pretty much the reason Darcy ruins things for Bingley and Jane.

Jane Austen had a thing about the letter W, almost all the cads in her books have that initial!

I grew to like the KK film version, despite Donald Sutherland.

Matthew Macfadyen walking along the beach, coat flapping, tight breeches, leather boots, shirt undone ......... excuse me, I appear to be dribbling.