Sense and Sensibility (2008 TV serial)
| Sense and Sensibility | |
|---|---|
 DVD Cover for TV Serial Sense and Sensibility |
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| Genre | Drama |
| Directed by | John Alexander |
| Produced by | Anne Pivcevic |
| Written by | Jane Austen (novel) Andrew Davies |
| Starring | Hattie Morahan Charity Wakefield Dan Stevens David Morrissey Dominic Cooper Janet McTeer Mark Williams Mark Gatiss |
| Music by | Martin Phipps |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original run | 1 January – 13 January 2008 |
| Running time | 180 min. |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
Sense and Sensibility is a 2008 British television serial adapted by the BBC from Jane Austen's novel of the same name. It was written by Andrew Davies[1] and directed by John Alexander.[2] The serial was aired on BBC One in three parts on 1, 6 and 13 January 2008. It aired the United States in two parts on PBS's "Masterpiece" series on 30 March and 6 April 2008. In Germany and France it was aired on 6 March 2009 on ARTE.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
[edit] Cast
Morahan described her character as "very principled... very calm, rational, cautious, everything that's sensible".[3]
- Charity Wakefield as Marianne Dashwood
Wakefield said it was a "shock" on being cast, but also found it "really exciting" to be working on the project. She described Marianne as the sister who was "youthful...romantic...and likes to defy convention" but also found her "poetic".[4]
- Dominic Cooper as Willoughby
- Janet McTeer as Mrs Dashwood
- Lucy Boynton as Margaret Dashwood
- Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars
Stevens said he was "ecstatic" at being cast in the role, although apprehensive at following in the footsteps of Hugh Grant who played the role in the 1995 adaptation by Ang Lee. He described Ferrars as a man "frustrated by circumstances".[5]
- David Morrissey as Colonel Brandon
- Mark Williams as Sir John Middleton
- Linda Bassett as Mrs Jennings
- Anna Madeley as Lucy Steele
- Daisy Haggard as Miss Steele
- Claire Skinner as Fanny Dashwood
- Mark Gatiss as John Dashwood
- Jean Marsh as The Dowager Mrs Ferrars
- Rosanna Lavelle as Lady Middleton
- Damien Thomas as Mr Harris
- Wendy Albiston as Martha
- Oisin Dickie as Eliza's Baby
[edit] Production
[edit] Writing
The series was written by Andrew Davies, the writer of a number of highly acclaimed BBC costume-dramas including Pride and Prejudice and Bleak House. Davies expressed his hope that his version was "more overtly sexual than most previous Austen adaptations seen on screen and [that it] gets to grips with the dark underbelly of the book."[6]
[edit] Filming
Filming took place on several sites on location in Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Devon.[7]
[edit] Costume
Supervising costume designer Michele Clapton studied books and paintings from the period to help her develop a particularly authentic style. She decided to differentiate the sisters by contrasting the colours of their wardrobes, having the "flighty" and "artistic" Marianne wear bolder shades of red, yellow and purple compared to the more modest hues of Elinor's attire. She also was keen to match the colours of the outfits with the complexions of Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield.
Willoughby's costume was also designed to reflect his "fashionable" personality, while Colonel Brandon's trench coat and dark shades were intended to make him seem an old-fashioned, stronger character.[8]
During production Wakefield spoke of how the costumes "really [helped] her to get into character" and that they were "absolutely beautiful" to look at.[9]
[edit] Episodes
| # | Title | Original airdate | Viewership # |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode One" | 1 January 2008 | 5.54m |
| 2 | "Episode Two" | 6 January 2008 | 5.74m |
| 3 | "Episode Three" | 13 January 2008 | 6.76m [10] |
[edit] Critical reception
Reception was generally positive to mixed. Critics were unsure as to the effectiveness of Davies' sexually charged screenplay against a more modest and humble approach akin to traditional Austen.
David Billen of The Times praised writer Andrew Davies' decision to "daringly [unearth] the dark, palpitating heart of a novel too easily mistaken for a how-to manual on how to choose a man". He also called David Morrissey's performance "excellent".[11]
Nancy Banks-Smiths of The Guardian also picked up on the sexual overtones of Davies' script, noticing how he "spotted the one instance of sexual shenanigans in Sense and Sensibility and [has] given it due prominence before the opening credits". She praised the series as "a charmingly domestic and spontaneous treatment of the story" but nevertheless "a younger sister of the lovely 1995 film".[12]
In The Independent Thomas Sutcliffe called the opening scene "a soft-porn sequence of flame-lit skin and slow unlacing". Yet he asserted that "once that initial silliness was out of the way and [the adaptation] came to its senses" it was "pretty good". He also praised the casting decisions, pointing out Mark Williams performance in particular as "simply [spilling] on to the screen".[13]
In the US, Gina Bellafante of The New York Times called the serial "lush and tidy" but that by infusing the tale with "a certain eroticism" Davies was robbing Austen's story of substance. She also found Hattie Morahan "disadvantaged" in the role of Elinor Dashwood, and that the role of the sisters in the story had in general been "downgraded".[14]
Brian Lowry of Variety, on the other hand, labelled the series a "leisurely adaptation" and found the acting uniformly "splendid", although acknowledging the "thematic repetitiveness" of Austen's works to be a weakness in PBS' tight scheduling of their The Complete Jane Austen Collection season.[15]
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Costume Designers Guild Awards
- Nominated Outstanding Costume Design in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Michele Clapton[17]
[edit] References
- ^ BBC plans major new Austen drama, BBC (5 October 2005)
- ^ Filming begins on Andrew Davies's three-part adaptation of Austen's Sense And Sensibility, BBC (13 April 2007)
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/drama/senseandsensibility/realmedia/sns_hattiemorahan?size=16x9&bgc=000000&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&st=no
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/drama/senseandsensibility/realmedia/sns_charitywakefield?size=16x9&bgc=000000&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&st=no
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/drama/senseandsensibility/realmedia/sns_danstevens?size=16x9&bgc=000000&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&st=no
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/senseandsensibility/
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/senseandsensibility/
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/drama/senseandsensibility/realmedia/sns_michelleandalex?size=16x9&bgc=000000&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&st=no
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/drama/senseandsensibility/realmedia/sns_charitywakefield?size=16x9&bgc=000000&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&st=no
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/14/tvratings.television
- ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3118297.ece
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/jan/02/lastnightstvsenseandsensi
- ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/last-nights-tv-give-me-plain-jane-not-soft-porn-767683.html
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/arts/television/29aust.html
- ^ http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936614.html?categoryid=32&cs=1
- ^ http://www.bafta.org/awards-database.html?year=2008&category=Craft&award=Original+Television+Music
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/14/entertainment/et-costume14
- ^ http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/awardsearch.php
- ^ http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/awardsearch.php
