As reviews go, "everyone involved should be in prison" is pretty harsh. But that was one of many deeply disappointed reviews of Persuasion, Netflix's adaptation of the Jane Austen classic.
For many fans of Austen, and of adaptations generally, the best versions are the ones that stick close to the source text. So I'm cautiously optimistic that Netflix's newly announced and apparently faithful adaptation of Pride & Prejudice is going to soar over the admittedly low bar set by its 2022 Austen adaptation to become one of the best Netflix shows.
Netflix's new Pride and Prejudice: what we know so far
There are lots of reasons to be cheerful about this forthcoming six-episode adaptation. The first is who's writing it; the second is who's directing it; and the third, fourth and fifth are who's in it.
The writer is Dolly Alderton, who won a National Book Award for her novel Everything I Know About Love and who absolutely loves Austen's book. It's "the blueprint for romantic comedy," she says, and "the book is a gift to adapt – packed with drama and depth as well as comedy and charm".
Alderton is also very pleased to be working with director Euros Lyn, who directed Heartstopper, and with a "stellar" cast.
That cast includes Emma Corrin (Nosferatu, Black Mirror) as Elizabeth Bennet, and Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, Benediction) as Mr Darcy.
Did you know Lowden is Scottish? He was born in England but grew up in the Scottish borders town of Oxton. I'm so used to seeing him as an English agent in Slow Horses that I was genuinely shocked when I heard him talk in his normal Scots accent. But I digress. The wonderful Olivia Coleman (The Favourite, The Crown), one of the UK's finest actors, is Mrs Bennet.
Will this Pride and Prejudice series arrive sometime in 2025? Probably not: Netflix says the series will start shooting in the UK later this year. But all the signs are that this adaptation could be everything that Persuasion wasn't, so it could be worth the wait.
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