Sanditon

ethos of the book, not those of the book

Not an Austen purist ( and that is the defence of anyone who marmelises something). But the short portion of this work that Jane Austen wrote was short, very much a first draft and, frankly, not very good. It is unclear who the heroine or hero are, or how the action would develop.

Anyone with half a brain could use it as a vague idea for any kind of regency fantasy they chose to write.

When Andrew Davis started he was very good. His adaptation of Mrs Gaskell's Wives and Daughters is brilliant and true to the book and the those of the book and I re-watch it regularly.

Sadly, starting with Pride and Prejudice, which I did not like, I much preferred the Fay Weldon version, which preceeded it, his work has been downhill all the way.

"There Charlotte spots Clara Brereton seated with Sir Edward Denham at her side having an intimate conversation in the garden and surmises that they must have a secret understanding..." is the precis of the original. ITV showed much more than a conversation!!
I am interested to see how this will continue and thought it was a bit of Sunday night fun.

I quite enjoyed it. The Austen purists who reviewed it on R4 were of course very down on it.

Yes, lulu, a Regency Romp is a good way to look at it. There were all the typical characters - the arrogant rude hero, the spirited heroine, the cad, the haughty wealthy Lady something, the plots about wealth. I thought it had a touch of Vanity Fair to it.

Naked men running down the beach into the sea - yes, Green, not sure that was very Jane Austen, nor the scene with the goddaughter "pleasuring" the cad in the park grounds.

Actually the country house and park was filmed at a NT place not far from me so it was good to recognise it.

I haven’t seen it, but didn’t we all wish Darcy had taken off that wet shirt when he stepped out of the water?

I decided right from the start not to think of it as Jane Austen but a Regency Romp won't be disappointed then.

Watchable but not very Jane Austenish I thought.Naked men in the sea. Ha ha ha!

As I was reading the newspaper and watching at the same time I was only half-attending.

I haven't warmed to it yet and that's entirely my fault. It must be tricky to deal with a book which is unfinished. Apparently they ran out of material half way through the first episode. Not very authentic, then.

I'll keep watching to see how it develops.