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Miss Austen - BBC1

313 replies

witchycat2 · 02/02/2025 11:30

All episodes are now up on iplayer. It airs weekly on Sunday at 9:05pm from tonight.

I love a period drama. I've watched the first episode on iplayer and liking it so far.

Synopsis below from BBC:

Miss Austen takes a literary mystery – Cassandra Austen notoriously burning her famous sister Jane’s letters – and reimagines it as a fascinating, witty and heart-breaking story of sisterly love.
The drama begins in 1830, many years after Jane has died. Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) rushes to visit Isabella (Rose Leslie), the niece of her long-dead fiancé, who is about to lose her home following her father’s death. Cassandra is ostensibly there to help Isabella, but her real motive is to find a hidden bundle of private letters which, in the wrong hands, she fears could destroy Jane’s reputation. On discovering them, Cassandra is overwhelmed as she is transported back to her youth. In flashbacks, we meet Young Cassy (Synnøve Karlsen) and Jane (Patsy Ferran) as they navigate the romantic infatuations, family feuds and dashed hopes which shaped their lives, and laid the foundations for Jane’s unforgettable stories. Cassandra’s re-evaluation of her past eventually leads her to find a way to guide Isabella towards the path of true happiness.

OP posts:
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icecreamscoops · 02/02/2025 19:45

Just watching thr first episode on iplayer....was a little confused by the other sister in law!

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witchycat2 · 02/02/2025 19:51

icecreamscoops · 02/02/2025 19:45

Just watching thr first episode on iplayer....was a little confused by the other sister in law!

I was confused too and trying to work it out via Google which made me more confused! Jane had a sister in law called Eliza (married to her brother Henry), but I don't think that's the Eliza in the series.

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JaneJeffer · 02/02/2025 21:16

I've only started watching and I'm already confused as to who the reverend is?

JaneJeffer · 02/02/2025 21:17

Dinah seems to think she's running the show

CrushingOnRubies · 02/02/2025 21:22

Also watching! Love a costume drama.

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witchycat2 · 02/02/2025 21:22

JaneJeffer · 02/02/2025 21:16

I've only started watching and I'm already confused as to who the reverend is?

The widower of Cassandra and Jane's friend Eliza

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JaneJeffer · 02/02/2025 21:26

Thanks @witchycat2. They basically told her not to come and she couldn't get there fast enough!

Everyone is annoying me so far.

The clergyman is a pastiche of Mr. Collins.

The maid is cheeky AF!

CrushingOnRubies · 02/02/2025 21:27

Yes the reverend is exactly like Mr Collins and I'm sure there's another similar vicar in another of her books.

JewelleryCat · 02/02/2025 21:28

I’ll be watching it weekly 🙂 I agree that the reverend was just like Mr Collins, very creepy

CrushingOnRubies · 02/02/2025 21:30

Think I need a family tree.

JaneJeffer · 02/02/2025 21:31

Jane looks like Mr. Bean

warmbath · 02/02/2025 21:57

Turned it off, a shame as I love Keely Hawkes but was boring me and couldn't work out who was who

warmbath · 02/02/2025 21:58

JaneJeffer · 02/02/2025 21:31

Jane looks like Mr. Bean

Agreed! Not how I expected Jane Austen to look...

JaneJeffer · 02/02/2025 22:02

Not loving it so far

Evenstar · 02/02/2025 22:03

I found it a bit confusing, but I haven’t read the book

viques · 02/02/2025 22:06

I do like a good Sunday night costume drama.

I have been having a bit of an Austen film festival for the last week, Sense and Sensibility, and a slightly strange Persuasion with Dakota Fanning. Co-incidentally all three contain the same dance, which smacks of a slightly lazy researcher, as I am sure they had lots of different dances. but enjoying this interpretation of the Austen sisters’ lives.

Whitegrenache · 02/02/2025 22:07

The daughter of the man who died earlier - is that the same girl who was one of their friends from the flashbacks and also sister to the lady who married their brother??

Evenstar · 02/02/2025 22:08

@Whitegrenache yes that is Isabella, her sister Mary married the widowed brother

WombatChocolate · 02/02/2025 22:08

Just seen 1st episode. Once I got my head round who they all were….loved it:

clever how the vicar is Mr Collins and Cassandra becomes like Emma and Cassandra’s intended looks like Willoughby and the Austen parents are Mr and Mrs Bennet.

Lking it lots.

JewelleryCat · 02/02/2025 22:09

Is Eliza a nickname for Isabella?

viques · 02/02/2025 22:10

warmbath · 02/02/2025 21:58

Agreed! Not how I expected Jane Austen to look...

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Though if you see the actress in profile she does look like the portrait of Jane in the NPG, the one drawn by Cassandra.

Evenstar · 02/02/2025 22:12

@JewelleryCat no Eliza is another sister, the one who Jane wrote to, I presume she is dead as all the letters were stored in a box in the library and Mary was talking about taking them.

Evenstar · 02/02/2025 22:13

I don’t know if we have seen Eliza

dapsnotplimsolls · 02/02/2025 22:15

I think Eliza was a friend of the sisters. Isabella is her daughter. Eliza's sister Mary married the sisters' brother.

Evenstar · 02/02/2025 22:18

@dapsnotplimsolls I think you are right! Cassandra mentioned that Isabella had lost her mother and father, I think they must have chosen very similar looking actors for the young Eliza and Isabella which would make sense.