![]() ![]() All of these people have their moments, but never quite emerge as much more than comedy sketch figures. Basically, it's little more than a flimsy framework that includes brief scenes for series regulars (including Jane Horrock's airhead assistant, June Whitfield's dotty mum, Celia Imrie's rival PR and Kathy Burke's bulldog editor), plus a few new characters like Chris Colfer's stylist. Written by Saunders, the script is very loose, bouncing around without much focus before a series of impatient, nonsensical conclusions. They're chased by a detective (Robert Webb), who's the boyfriend of Edina's daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha), whose teen daughter (Indeharna Donaldson-Holness) has run off with them. Now under investigation, Eddie and Pats flee to the South of France to find Patsy's wealthy ex (Barry Humphreys). But this goes spectacularly wrong when Kate ends up falling off a balcony into the Thames. After failing to sell her memoirs, Edina sets out to woo Kate Moss as a client. So she and her pal Patsy (Lumley) set out to make some cash. I must just mention the charming piano music by Carl Davis, so beautifully evocative of a beautiful period in history (for the rich).With her PR agency fading and her money spent on expanding her home, Edina (Saunders) discovers that her credit cards are "broken" and her champagne fridge is empty. But apart from that, I heartily recommend this video. Many will disagree but I think she over-acted, turning her Mrs Bennet into a nerve- grating, neurasthenic caricature. ![]() He found it impossible to imagine that anyone in a lower strata of society, living in a small provincial town, could be his equal - until he met Elizabeth! However, I felt there was one weak link in the chain of superb acting Alison steadman. But Darcy was in no way shy, he was just proud, with every reason to have a good opinion of himself. Olivier falsely portraits him as appealingly shy and self-conscious. It is interesting to compare Colin Firth's Darcy with that of Lawrence Olivier's Darcy in the Hollywood film. This involved a fine piece of editor-timing a split second either way, either too long or too short, and the poignancy of that moment would have been lost. She is at the piano befriending Darcy's sister, Georgiana (Emilia Fox), when he holds her gaze with a silent declaration of his love and admiration. And the duel of wits and sharp dialogue between Darcy and Elizabeth (Jennifer Ehle) as they get to know each other is entrancing. Its series of climaxes make the novel difficult to put down just as one plot-line reaches its climactic conclusion, another is building. ![]() No one has ever written a more tightly plotted novel. It is its faithfulness to the original that makes this drama so good. David Bamber makes Mr Collins deliciously toadying and obsequious. In order to extend our knowledge of the characters of Darcy(Colin Firth), and Mr Collins(David Bamber), two scenes are added to demonstrate that Darcy is not just an effete aristocrat but a real man worthy of Elizabeth's love we are shown him indulging in manly pursuits fencing, and swimming in his private lake (it puzzles me why so many women seem to drool over his wet-shirt scene) and to demonstrate that Mr Collins is an idiotic, narrow- minded prude we are shown him trembling with embarrassment and horror when he happens to come across Lydia (Julia Sawalha) in a state of dishabille. The drama departs from the novel in only two instances. The greater part of the dialogue in the series is Jane Austen's own and every scene is included and follows the same chronological order. It is rare to find a Jane Austen dramatisation that comes so near to being perfect on every level and that stays so true to the original novel. It was almost perfect - though not quite. I've not seen its like on television before nor do I expect to see its like again. ![]()
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