Sense and Sensibility (2008 TV serial)
Encyclopedia
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
and directed by John Alexander
. 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.
Morahan described her character as "very principled... very calm, rational, cautious, everything that's sensible".
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".
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".
and Bleak House. Davies expressed 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."
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.
During production Wakefield spoke of how the costumes "really [helped] her to get into character" and that they were "absolutely beautiful" to look at.
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".
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
".
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".
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".
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.
2008 in television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2008. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television serial adapted by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
from Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's novel of the same name. It was written by Andrew Davies
Andrew Davies (writer)
Andrew Wynford Davies is a British author and screenwriter. He was made a Fellow of BAFTA in 2002.-Education and early career:...
and directed by John Alexander
John Alexander (director)
John Alexander is a British director of television drama. His works include Sense and Sensibility, Small Island and an episode of Zen.-External links:...
. The serial was aired on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
in three parts on 1, 6 and 13 January 2008. It aired the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in two parts on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
's "Masterpiece" series on 30 March and 6 April 2008. In Germany and France it was aired on 6 March 2009 on ARTE.
Cast
- Hattie MorahanHattie MorahanHarriet Jane Morahan is an award-winning English television, film, and stage actress.-Background:Hattie Morahan is the youngest daughter of television and film director Christopher Morahan and actress Anna Carteret...
as Elinor DashwoodElinor DashwoodElinor Dashwood is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility.In this novel, Austen analyses the conflict between the opposing temperaments of sense [logic, propriety, and thoughtfulness, as expressed in Austen's time by neo-classicists], and...
Morahan described her character as "very principled... very calm, rational, cautious, everything that's sensible".
- Charity WakefieldCharity Wakefield-Background:Wakefield was born in Sussex, England in September 1980. At a couple of months old she moved with her mother, Caroline, to L'Ampolla in Catalonia, Spain. They returned to England when Wakefield was four. She has a half-sister, Olivia...
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".
- Dominic CooperDominic CooperDominic Edward Cooper is an English actor. He has worked in TV, film, theatre and radio, in productions including Mamma Mia!, The Duchess, The History Boys, and The Devil's Double.- Early life :...
as Willoughby - Janet McTeerJanet McTeerJanet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
as Mrs Dashwood - Lucy BoyntonLucy BoyntonLucy Boynton is an English actress. She attended Blackheath High School, and now attends James Allen's Girls' School. She is the daughter of Graham Boynton, the Group Travel Editor of the Telegraph Media Group and Adriaane Pielou, a travel writer.-Career:Her first professional role was as the...
as Margaret Dashwood - Dan StevensDan StevensDaniel Jonathan Stevens is a British actor.-Education:Stevens was educated at Tonbridge School, an independent school in the market town of Tonbridge in Kent, in South East England, followed by Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read English...
as Edward Ferrars
Stevens said he was "ecstatic" at being cast in the role, although apprehensive at following in the footsteps of Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
who played the role in the 1995 adaptation by Ang Lee
Sense and Sensibility (1995 film)
Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 British drama film directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay by Emma Thompson is based on the 1811 novel of the same name by English author Jane Austen...
.
He described Ferrars as a man "frustrated by circumstances".
- David MorrisseyDavid MorrisseyDavid Mark Morrissey is an English actor and director. Morrissey grew up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool, and learned to act at the city's Everyman Youth Theatre. At the age of 18, he was cast in the television series One Summer , which won him recognition throughout the country...
as Colonel Brandon - Mark WilliamsMark Williams (actor)Mark Williams is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter and presenter. He is best known as one of the stars of the popular BBC sketch show The Fast Show, as well as for his role as Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter films....
as Sir John Middleton - Linda BassettLinda BassettLinda Bassett is an English actress, who is well known in the United Kingdom for her film career.Bassett was born in Kent, England to a typist mother and a police officer father. Her roles include the award-winning part of Ella Khan in the 1999 British comedy film East is East...
as Mrs Jennings - Anna MadeleyAnna MadeleyAnna Madeley is a British actress. She has been described by the British Theatre Guide's Philip Fisher as one of the United Kingdom's "brightest and most versatile young actresses".-Biography:...
as Lucy Steele - Daisy HaggardDaisy Haggard-Family:The daughter of film director Piers Haggard and his wife Anna Slovsky, she was raised and educated in Dulwich, South London at the James Allen's Girls' School.-Career:...
as Miss Steele - Claire SkinnerClaire SkinnerClaire L. Skinner is an English actress, who is well known in the United Kingdom for her television career.-Biography:Born and brought up in Hemel Hempstead, Skinner, the youngest daughter of a shopkeeper and an Irish-born secretary, was immensely shy as a child...
as Fanny Dashwood - Mark GatissMark GatissMark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
as John Dashwood - Jean MarshJean MarshJean Lyndsey Torren Marsh is an English actress, occasional screenwriter, and co-creator of the television series Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliott....
as The Dowager Mrs Ferrars - Rosanna LavelleRosanna LavelleSally Rosanna Lavelle better known simply as Rosanna Lavelle, is an English actress. She attended the National Student Theatre in 1997 and then studied at Cambridge University....
as Lady Middleton - Damien ThomasDamien ThomasDamien Thomas is a British actor noted for his roles in British films and television, such as his role as Richard Mason in the 1983 BBC production of Jane Eyre....
as Mr Harris - Wendy AlbistonWendy AlbistonWendy Albiston is a Welsh actress.In 2002, she played De Chevreuse in the Doctor Who audio drama The Church and the Crown and guest starred in the Sarah Jane Smith adventure The TAO Connection....
as Martha - Oisin Dickie as Eliza's Baby
Writing
The series was penned by Andrew Davies, the writer of a number of highly acclaimed BBC costume-dramas including Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice (1995 TV serial)
Pride and Prejudice is a six-episode 1995 British television drama, adapted by Andrew Davies from Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Simon Langton, the serial was a BBC...
and Bleak House. Davies expressed 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."
Filming
Filming took place on several sites on location in Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Devon.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.
During production Wakefield spoke of how the costumes "really [helped] her to get into character" and that they were "absolutely beautiful" to look at.
Episodes
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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
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
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".
Nancy Banks-Smiths of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
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
Sense and Sensibility (1995 film)
Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 British drama film directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay by Emma Thompson is based on the 1811 novel of the same name by English author Jane Austen...
".
In The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
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".
In the US, Gina Bellafante of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
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".
Brian Lowry of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, 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.
Awards and nominations
- BAFTA TV Awards
- Nominated Best Original Television Music - Martin Phipps
- Costume Designers Guild Awards
- Nominated Outstanding Costume Design in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Michele Clapton
- Primetime Emmy Awards
- Nominated Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie - Sean Bobbitt
- Nominated Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score) - Martin Phipps
External links
- Sense and Sensibility at bbc.co.ukBbc.co.ukBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
- Sense and Sensibility at pbs.org