Lost in Austen

[GruB]

That was ace.  Very enjoyable.  I don't normally watch series as I invariably miss one and then get annoyed, but for this I'll make an exception.

[tonycollinet]

Yes was quite good.

But I had to pretend to the ladeez in the house that I didn't like it - just to wind them up.

[Rob S]

Missed it...I doubt ITV do an iPlayer type thing do they?

[vince]

They do, but it works in IE iirc. I watched it on their version of iPlayer last night. I was a bit underwhelmed to be honest, mainly because I was not taken by any of the characters.

[Arthur]

Wasn't bad, but I spent the whole episode thinking that Jasper Fforde's 'The Ayre Affair' (and subsequent sequels) did the literary-jumping idea so much better.

[rogerzilla]

I used to go out with a girl who looked exactly like the heroine of LIA.

[mattc]

Hup. Next episode tonight at 9pm.

This is unexpectedly good, and I write as a complete non-costume drama fan. Cracking dialogue and performances. (I tend to ignore the plot in almost any parallelly universe / time-travel / alternate worlds type thingy - it's rarely important! ) It's more of a culture-clash comedy than anything else.

(Jasper Fforde is ace too, but in a very different way - hardly surprising as this is TELLY! )

[Ian H]

Not having a tv I haven't seen this, though I'm tempted to glance at it ont' web. Austen's work tends to turn to mush on the screen because her dialogue and acid wit are largely lost. This format sounds as if it could, at least in theory, preserve more of her written words.

[mattc]

OK, I admit I have read no Austen books.

But I would guess that this prog works as the dialogue borrows the some spirit of the original, written for consumption on the small screen by a 21stC audience.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I'm really enjoying it so far.

The dialogue is interesting - the Austen characters are speaking appropriate dialogue for their time period, and Amanda is trying to speak what she thinks is appropriate for that period, but it doesn't come naturally to her. The writers have brought in some of the original Austen dialogue, but they've also put in various pop culture references, and bits of dialogue from other Austen books, for example Amanda said to Bingley "it was badly done, Bingley, badly done" which is a direct lift from Mr Knightley saying to Emma "it was badly done, Emma, badly done" in Emma.

I don't like the Mr Darcy though. The book makes it very clear that he's so stand-offish because he's shy with people he doesn't know well and that doesn't come across at all in this version - he's just rude, arrogant and snobbish. I thought the recent Keira Knightley/Matthew MacFadyen film did a much better job of portraying his shyness, much better than the BBC drama did.