The BBC production of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (swoon) and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet may just be one of the most perfect page to screen adaptations of all time.
However, if anyone had the skills to re-create yet another version of Austen’s classic tale, it would have to be the producers of period dramas Poldark and Victoria. We can all rest easy in the knowledge that our favourite story is in very safe hands.
Mammoth Screen and ITV will be working together on creating another TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
“In this age of the box set – with audiences loving to binge on complex, serialised dramas – it feels absolutely right to reassess the great classics. Every generation needs its own adaptation of this perfect novel,” says Mammoth managing director Damien Timmer.
The script will be in the hands of playwright Nina Raine, who intends to explore the darker themes in the novel.
“Pride and Prejudice is actually a very adult book, much less bonnet-y than people assume,” she told the Radio Times.
“I hope I do justice to Austen’s dark intelligence – sparkling, yes, but sparkling like granite.”
We certainly like the sound of that!
This latest adaptation is likely to hit screens in 2020 as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the 1995 BBC series.
Pride and Prejudice has been adapted many times throughout the years. The 2005 film version starring Keira Knightley and Matthey Mcfadyen was nominated for four Oscars.
Last year, the story was given a very gory makeover for the 2016 film Pride and Prejudice and Zombies starring Lily James and Sam Riley.
We’d be happy with a few less Zombies in the next adaptation, if the producers could keep that in mind we’d be very grateful.
