New ITV adaptation of Mansfield Park tonight

[JackieNo]

ITV, 9-11pm, mre info here - I'll be watching, though it's the Jane Austen I know (and like) least.

roisin the worst thing is that we have been together for about 15 yrs, on and off, you would think I knew his taste in literature by now very much blue-spined penguins lol

Clary, dh and I have been together 20 years and I once discussed a holiday I had with my ex, in some detail with dh, working on the basis that I went with him
Not a happy moment...

Oh yes Marina I'm always doing it with films I fancy we saw together...there's no hope is there, the brain's just gone now

Marina - yes, point taken re: my name!! Do you know, I've never seen an adaptation of "Persuasion" although it is such a beautiful novel. I'll look out for the version you mentioned. My favourite Austen adaptation is the Kate Beckinsale (sp?) "Emma" which is just wonderful. I also liked Kiera Knightley's "P & P" a lot, which I was surprised about.

Oh yes - the Amanda Root 'Persuasion' had Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth

Thanks JackieNo - I now need to out myself as a blatant liar. I HAVE seen it (doh); it's gorgeous - she is just so delicate and lovely.

Never mind her - it's Ciaran that's the attraction for me. But the whole thing's lovely.

and this imvho is the best mansfield park in the world ever!

Anyone know if it's going to be repeated anytime soon? I'd so like my DDs to watch it, DD1 especially.

What annoyed me about it was that they all had blimmin' tans

Another vote for Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds in Persuasion

Also enjoyed last year's P&P

Amanda Root is a fine actress when she remembers to stop doing breathy stuff and fiddling with her tresses, I loved that adaptation.
And Sylvestra Le Touzel would make a highly convincing Authentic Fanny IMO bk.
We nearly ran Nicholas Farrell over once
My other favourite is the old TV Pride and Prejudice with Elizabeth Garvie, Sabrina Franklyn, Clare Higgins, Tessa Peake-Jones and Natalie Ogle as the Bennett sisters.
If it hadn't been for David Rintoul's turnip-headed impression of Darcy that would have been perfection.

Jackie, I love the all-round-talented Simon Russell Beale in that Persuasion too

oh i remember that one! v. good. but just pipped by the jennifer ehle/colin firth turn in 95 i think.

I loathed Alison Steadman in that one . She's normally wonderful but her performance was just too much really

Know what you mean about Alison Steadman - funny, but a bit pantomime. Mr Bennett was fab - wonderfully understated.

Oh gosh yes, Alison Steadman truly awful - and the reason why I hated the BBC adaptation so much. I didn't like the dimply Elizabeth Bennet in it either but I really liked Mr Collins and Lady Catherine.

Yeah, pantomime is exactly the word for Alison Steadman in P+P. And I love the Amanda Root Persuasion; my all-time favourite novel.
But - oooh- I saw 'Becoming Jane' last night, and it's painful, possibly the stupidest film I've ever seen. Loads of 'kind-of' quotes from the books, stuck inappropriately and clumsily into the very crap dialogue, but then 'Jane Austen does the Wicker Man' segues into 'Jane Austen does Fight Club' and I'm still reeling

What is it with Hollywood and English authors? First Beatrix Potter, now Jane Austen - I don't think I want to see either of those films very much.

Well I watched it last night - it was a curious mix of good and really jarringly bad, I thought.
Dh, who rates Mansfield Park as JA's subtlest novel, thought that placing Fanny as a lively girl in a rather inert household worked quite well (but he does like Billie Piper ). However, we were both agog that the astonishing walk in the ground with the proto-Freudian talk of keys being fitted in locks etc was cut. Tut! Andrew Davis would have had a lubricious field day with that scene.
Douglas Hodge as terrific as ever, I thought Maggie O'Neill worked well as Mrs Norris just because the malice only peeped out occasionally from the respectable companion front. And Hayley Atwell got Mary's curious mix of shallowness and allure really neatly, I felt.
Also v. disappointed that they cut Fanny's revelatory visit back to her chaotic home in Portsmouth.
All in all a pretty, pleasant, wasted opportunity. It's encouraged me to revisit the novel as I bet there is a load more they failed to articulate.

I haven'tread the book, and if it' anything like the adaptation I'm not sure I will bother.
It was ok, but P&P has just set the standard too high.
My judgement may have been slightly clouded by the fact that it was 5am when I was watching it with a snotty teething little boy on my knee.

It is out on DVD though, I saw it in Asda.