Can we just please take a moment to appreciate the beauty that is the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice

[JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows]

It is my go-to TV show when I'm bored and need something on in the background. The way Colin Firth looks at Jennifer Ehle makes my knees go weak. They don't make them like that anymore!

Ah Duckface was magnificent as Miss Bingley

@Wolfiefan

I’ve never really had much sympathy for Mrs B. I didn’t see her as bright enough to want to do the best for her children. (If she had maybe she would have reined Lydia in!) Just that she liked an officer and enjoyed flirting and being social. But MrB? He had the brains and only used them to ridicule his wife and daftest children.

But she didn’t have to be at all ‘bright’ — she knew that the moment Mr Bennet died she and her daughters would have to vacate Longbourn, and live on a tiny income from her marriage settlement, and that their poverty would make it far harder for the girls to marry at all, even if not marry well. And as they have no other chance to be economically ‘independent’, she needs to marry them off. She’s as economically-minded as Charlotte Lucas, whose pragmatic, mildly humiliating plot line shadows Lizzy and Jane’s conventionally happy ones.

I tell you what strikes me differently as I’m older — Mr Collins’ behaviour in wanting to marry one of the Bennetts. Obviously he’s a laughing stock to write a pompous letter announcing it in advance, and to assume Lizzy will accept, but in fact when he knows he’s the heir to Longbourn because the Bennets have no son, and that the daughters will lose their home and income when he inherits, it’s in fact an appropriate thing to do.

I always felt there was something of Malvolio in Mr Collins.

This version is the one that parallels the book more than any other and Carl Davis's score is sublime.

@Aahotep

What's your favourite line? Mine is "You go to Brighton? I wouldn't trust you as near it as Eastbourne. Not for £50." And Wistfully "A whole camp full of soldiers"

When Mrs Bennet was prattling on about who Mr Bingley danced with ad Mr Bennet said "Oh would he have sprained his ankle in the first dance!"

@Kilcaple I think Mr Collins got a hard time by all when he had good intentions in mending the rift of his father. He was nothing more than a bit of a Wally and was probably treated a bit unfairly

Is still one of fav ever programs

My favourite line / exchange is the Lizzie / Lady Catherine one in the garden when Lady C is trying to ascertain if Lizzie and Mr Darcy and engaged. That’s just a wonderful wonderful piece of writing and is played beautifully in this adaptation.

I agree. I often use the phrase ‘I am seriously displeased’

Mr Bennett just completely checked out of parenting.
Agree that Mr Collins' offer to marry one of the sisters made lots of sense given their potential economic desperation. You can look at the whole book as a study of Mrs Bennet's unchecked anxiety.

@Chambored

My favourite line / exchange is the Lizzie / Lady Catherine one in the garden when Lady C is trying to ascertain if Lizzie and Mr Darcy and engaged. That’s just a wonderful wonderful piece of writing and is played beautifully in this adaptation.

I have a t-shirt that says "Obstinate, headstrong girl"

Can I shallowly lower the tone by taking a moment to appreciate the beauty that is Colin Firth in the wet shirt? Never found him attractive before or since, but at that moment he was beautiful to both the teenage and 40-something me!

Ding dong! Yes and his posh haughty tones I love him.
@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows
Will the shades of Pemberley be thus polluted?
I really want one of those tshirts!

I must say I don't psychoanalyse any of it.

I want one of those t-shirts. Also love the ‘I send no compliments to your mother’ line.

I think Netflicks will soon do an intervention on me for the number off times I’ve watched it. It is my go-to pick-me-up.

My dvd copy is wearing out

Favourite line:

Jane: Why am I thus singled from my family, and blessed above them all! If I could but see you as happy! ...

Lizzie: If you were to give me forty such men, I never could be so happy as you!

Bloody hell, 40 men! You go Lizzie!

@Mycatismadeofstringcheese
See: a whole camp full of soldiers

Incidentally I was idly googling the music and the one Georgiana plays when Miss Bingley makes the fatal mistake of mentioning Wickham is below.

It's beautiful.

Does anyone else love the BBC version of Persuasion too? That also has some beautiful piano music and is a great adaptation. It's the one with Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth.

Jane is beautiful by the standards of the time - I think she is brilliantly cast in this.

Aahotep Oh yes. Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth...

Loved everything about the 1995 version except Mrs. Bennett-too much of a caricature

Maybe one day someone will make a decent adaptation of Mansfield Park. Difficult because all the characters, without exception, are unsympathetic; and it will be felt necessary to labour the point about slavery

@JaninaDuszejko

I’ve a lot more sympathy for Mrs Bennet now and huge impatience with Mr Bennet and the golden child dynamic with Elizabeth.

This is the joy of Austen though, the characters are real, complex and flawed people. Alison Steadman played Mrs Bennet as a caricature (I preferred Brenda Blethyn's portrayal, it was more restrained) but she was just trying to do her best for her daughters.

I agree, and I think that’s also the joy of text; each time you read it you can change the nuance of the characters a little. I think that’s probably why I don’t get on as well films and series (but still can’t resist watching them)

I hadn’t heard of The Other Bennet Sister. It’s made my day to order a new book! I really enjoyed Longbourn by Jo Baker which is told from the point of view of the servants.

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL84Aw12nRu1NHMOltb9n7ca8XaYlnU77

Jennifer Ehle recorded herself reading P&P during the spring lockdown, and listening to it before bed got me through the November lockdown - leaving the link to the playlist here in case anyone needs it as a pick-me-up for the current situation!

The Other Bennet Sister is excellent.

I always found Mansfield Park difficult to read but it's grown on me. Yes - we need another adaptation. Please!

Also agree that the Ciaran Hinds version of Persuasion is the best one. I prefer Austen's later novels as a rule. Still to watch ITVs Sanditon - anyone recommend it?

I love Alison Steadman as Mrs Bennett. Her and her nerves.
Mr Bennett saying "your nerves have been a constant companion to me all these years" or something similar Mr Bennett is quite snippy with many of his replies to his wife and children but then I don't blame him.

I can't chose between p&p or s&s(Emma Thompson) as my most favourite.

Still to watch ITVs Sanditon - anyone recommend it?

Nope 😆 It's like a pastiche of Austen, not quite as bad as Bridgerton, but close. And even worse, it ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, as they were clearly hoping for a second series but alas, tis not to be.