Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.6

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.6
BBC
29 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

The series concludes, feeling a bit rushed rather than a bit slow, but still overall satisfying.  (For instance, I would've liked them to include Lizzy telling her father of all that Mr. Darcy did for Lydia.)  The best scene here is probably the Lizzie vs. Lady Catherine scene, but it's nice to get at least glimpses of nearly everyone.  The overall average is B, worth watching, perhaps worth owning.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.5

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.5
BBC
22 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

This covers only six chapters, but it does things like show some of what Mr. Darcy is going through and have Mr. Collins visit the Bennets rather than just send a letter (with Kitty understandably avoiding him).  This is as good a place as any to address that many people find Steadman annoying as Mrs. Bennet, but I think she (like everyone else) is well cast and Mrs. Bennet is annoying in the same way in the book.  Also, it makes a great contrast with Whitrow's understated Mr. Bennet.   Another thing I should mention is that Jane and Lizzy's friendship is very important in this series, arguably even more than in the book, because Lizzy confides some things in Jane onscreen that she does not in print.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.4

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.4
BBC
15 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+

I'm bumping this episode up to a B+ because of scenery, and, no, I don't mean Colin Firth in a wet shirt.*  Darbyshire and the Pemberley estate look stunning, and it's believable that Lizzy falls in love with them as much as with the now surprisingly kind and humble Mr. Darcy.  The episode covers nine chapters, starting with Darcy's letter, telling his reasons for breaking up Jane and Bingley and for falling out with Wickham, the latter in part because of Wickham's attempt to elope with Darcy's sister Georgiana (glimpsed in the previous episode and here seen in flashbacks, including when she's supposed to be only eleven; Emilia Fox would get more to do in the next episode, and appear briefly in the conclusion).

Because of the trip to Darbyshire, we see more of the Gardiners (Joanna David and Tim Wylton) than we did in the previous episode, and they would also be in the last two episodes, but less.  Their four children-- played by Jacob Casselden, Julian Erleigh, Marie-Louise Flamank, and Natasha Isaacs-- would return in the next episode.


*When this series originally aired in Britain, it was a major event, must-see telly if you will.  To this day, the wet-shirted Darcy scene is probably the one thing most associated with the mid- to late '90s Austen revival.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.3

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.3
BBC
8 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

In this episode, covering fourteen chapters, Jane goes to London and Lizzy goes to Kent, where she re-encounters Mr. Darcy and meets his more amiable cousin Col. Fitzwilliam (Anthony Calf), as well as their not all at amiable aunt and cousin, the de Bourghs.  Jane discovers that Caroline Bingley's friendship for her has faded away, and it appears that Mr. Bingley no longer cares for her. As for Elizabeth, Mr. Collins and the de Bourghs are as she expected, but Mr. Darcy's behaviour is peculiar, leading to a surprising and insulting proposal.  After two and a half episodes set around the Bennets' home of Longbourn, it's nice to get some variety of scenery and characters.

This is the 2500th show I've reviewed.  I doubt we'll make it to 3000, but we'll definitely hit 2600.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.2

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.2
BBC
1 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

This episode (which covers eight chapters) introduces Lynn Farleigh as Mrs. Bennet's sister Mrs. Phillips (three more episodes after this one), David Bamber as Mr. Collins (in every episode from now on, although not always as much as in this one), Adrian Lukis as George Wickham (also continuing through the rest of the series), and very briefly (without lines and only in a flashback) Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Lady Catherine de Bourgh (three more much more prominent appearances), Nadia Chambers as Miss Anne de Bourgh (three more episodes), and Harriet Eastcott as Mrs. Jenkinson (one more appearance).  While the other characters all have something to do (for instance, it's fun to watch Mary's reactions, since she has a whole little backstory that you can pick up on that way), this episode is primarily about Lizzy's interactions with the two men she meets, and how they affect her impressions of Mr. Darcy.  (If we hadn't got Firth's point of view in the first episode, we'd wonder why he looks pissed off all the time.)  Mr. Collins's courtship of Lizzy is played for laughs even more than in the book, while Wickham's charming her is at this point shown without subtext, although the astute viewer/reader will wonder why he's telling his life story to a new acquaintance.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.1

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.1
BBC
24 September 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

Other than the leads (mentioned in the synopsis below), the regulars:

• Roger Barclay would be in three more episodes as Capt. Carter;
• So would David Bark-Jones as Lt. Denny;
• Christopher Benjamin would be Sir William Lucas thrice more;
• Anna Chancellor would be Miss Bingley in every episode;
• Judy Chetner appears in two more episodes as an uncredited Lady at Dance;
• David Coastworth appears in all six episodes as the uncredited Gun Keeper;
• Lucy Davis is in almost all the other episodes as Maria Lucas;
• Victoria Hamilton and Paul Moriarty would be in two more episodes as Mrs. and Col. Forster;
• Roy Holder would be Hodge the gardener twice more;
• Kate O'Malley appears in two more episodes as Sarah the maid, but Annabel Taylor would be Maggie the maid only once more.
• Neville Phillips, who was a Member on Jeeves and Wooster, would return once more as Fossett the footman;
• Lucy Robinson would be in all the other episodes as Mrs. Hurst;
• Lucy Scott (yes, there are a lot of Lucys here) would be in nearly every episode as Charlotte Lucas;
• Marlene Sidaway, who was a Pub Landlady on J & W, would make three more appearances as Hill the Housekeeper;
• Christopher Staines would be Lt. Sanderson once more;
• Norma Streader as Lady Lucas would be in two more episodes;
• Annabel Taylor would return as Maggie the maid;
• and Rupert Vansittart would be Mr. Hurst thrice more.

This is a reasonably faithful, if sometimes slow-moving, adaptation of the first dozen chapters of the classic novel, which I reviewed here: http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2011/12/pride-and-prejudice.html.  A mismatched couple (Whitrow and Steadman) have five marriageable daughters (Susannah Harker as Jane, Jennifer Ehle as Lizzy, Lucy Briers as Mary, Molly Maberly as Kitty, and Julia Sawalha as Lydia), so when young, handsome, rich, and eligible bachelors Mr. Bingley (Crispin Bonham-Carter) and Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth in the role that defined him) arrive in the neighbourhood, they must be "in want of wives."  The basic set-up and characters are established in this episode, although the setting and circumstances will change as the story progresses, and a couple very memorable characters (Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine) have yet to be introduced.  Overall, the casting, costumes, music, acting, etc. are solid and I can't think of anything terribly wrong, just that the magic of the novel is hard to capture in full.

Simon Langton, who directed the '91 J & W episodes, directed every episode of this series.