Miss Austen - BBC1

[witchycat2]

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.

Yes, she died a wealthy woman (her will leaves an estate worth just under £15,000 (between £890,000 and £120,000 in todays money, depending on whether you use 1840 or 1850 in the National Archive currency converter), but almost none of that was from Jane’s work, and she doesn’t ever appear to have lived up to her wealth, most of which was in investments rather than ready cash..

Cassandra sold the copyrights of the novels to the publisher Richard Bentley in 1832 for £250 (and she had to pay £40 of that to the heirs of the man who’d owned the copyright of Pride and Prejudice. She got £600 from sales of the posthumously published Persuasion and Northanger Abbey from John Murray. She inherited some money from her mother (who outlived Jane) but seems to have made most of the money she left from her own investments — and by living very frugally. She stayed on in the fairly humble Chawton cottage after her mother died, and seems to have lived very simply.

It’s shocking to think how little income the novels generated for JA and Cassandra.

@wildfellhall I agree so much re Hughes. I also LOVE your username. It's my favourite Bronte novel.

I've just come from ranting a bit about him on 'what we are reading'!

Your name is great as well.

The Austen finances are fascinating. She was clearly a bit unlucky with her publishers?

Didn’t her brother Henry provide bad financial advice to Jane?

@wildfellhall writes ".......I agree I think the Jeremy Irons Nepoboy is fictional."

And they say Jane Austen could be cutting about people.
That was a bit harsh@wildfellhall
His name is Max Irons.
Both his parents are great actors.
His grandfather Cyril Cusack was one of Ireland's greatest actors.

I've just bought this https://amzn.eu/d/hfU3J3p. For kindle.

I agree, that was a bit mean of me! I just feel that tgere will soon be no actors at all from poorer families as how could you possibly afford to be a creative without industry and wealth advantage?
Kenneth Branagh would not be able to come into his career now as he had a full grant.

Am I right to think that Cassy inherited some money from Tom?

Fair dues for owning your "mean" @wildfellhall.

Sometimes talent is in the genes.
So "the talent will out" as we say in Ireland.
I forgot to mention Max's maternal grandmother. She too was an accomplished actor but her career took a back seat when she had a family.

She did. About £1000, which, invested, gave her an annual income of £35 ish.

But not fiddle-playing in the case of Jeremy… (who rocks up at seisiúns and sort of plays air guitar fiddle😀)

Thank you.

I meant to post this earlier in case anyone is interested (from Blackwell's email)

I've watched this and really enjoyed it ! Wouldn't of if keely hawes hadn't been in it but I've never watched any Austen or read any , I've really
Only read Emily Brontë
So could
Someone tell me why Cassandra had
To burn the letters ?

If you read back on this thread @mybelovedghostandme you will see discussion about that very subiect.

@MyOtherProfile thank you I will do that as it's been on my
Mind

Has it been mentioned that Tom Fowle was played by yet another Cusack scion: Calam Lynch son of Niamh.

Crosspurposes nice use of "scion" - I have never been really certain what that meant so I've just looked it up, love learning a new word 🙏.
Need to check how to pronounce it now......

I’ve just rewatched Sense and Sensibilty for the first time since it came out.

Emma Thompson is too old for the role. There. I said it.

I fell in love with Dr. Lidderdale, and discovered he is also from an acting family, and played Dean Thomas in Harry Potter.

Much much too old. I still enjoyed it though.

Oh, me too. I think I found it distracting because I’ve just finished reading the book, in which she was 19.

Much too old and much too Emma Thompson!

Ha, I must admit there was more than one scene that reminded me of the scene in the egregious Love, Actually that everyone goes on about, where she’s in the bedroom pulling herself together.

She did such a wonderful job of adapting it though, that I can’t really begrudge her, although she would have been miles better as Mrs. Dashwood. Her casting had a knock-on effect, that made Gemma Jones far, far too old to be a Georgian-era second wife and mother to an eleven year old. In reality, Mrs. Dashwood would have been fortyish, tops.

Clearly posted in the wrong thread. 🤣