New BBC Series: Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James

The BBC is making a mini-series from the P.D. James Pride and Prejudice sequel Death Comes to Pemberley. Pemberly, of course, is the vast estate owned by the Darcy family.

WETA Blog: Watch Out Jane Austen Fans

The BBC has ordered a three-part adaptation of the novel Death Comes to Pemberley, a Pride and Prejudice sequel written by P.D. James, which tells the story of Austen’s famous couple six years into their marriage. But the question everyone wants to know is – who’s playing Mr. Darcy this time?

Answer: It’s Matthew Rhys. You may have seen him on ABC’s Brother’s and Sisters, the Masterpiece adaptation of The Mystery of Edwin Drood or FX’s The Americans. And he’s aware of the inevitable Firth comparisons headed his way.

“Exciting as it is, one of the challenges of a part such as Darcy are the comparisons that will be drawn to those who've institutionalised him in the past,” Rhys said. "The beauty of 'Pemberley' is that it is an entirely new and different Darcy 6 years on. And also, I don't have to appear from a lake in a white shirt and breeches.”



Rhys will be joined by The Bletchley Circle’s Anna Maxwell as Lizzie, and Birdsong’s Matthew Goode is set to play the nefarious Wickham. The official synopsis says that the series will “combine classic period drama with a highly suspenseful and brilliantly crafted murder mystery plot,” apparently involving the murder of a friend of Wickham’s. Casting for the rest of the novel's major characters hasn't been announced yet, so we'll have to wait and see if any more recognizable faces will be part of this project.

Mixed Reviews for Lavish Great Gatsby

I haven't seen The Great Gatsby yet, but my husband and my two older children really enjoyed it. And yes, they were all quite familiar with the book.

Having said all that, here are some review excerpts - a mixed bag, indeed! But I don't see that as negative - on the contrary. Movies are art based on books but never word for word. That's why there can be two movies based on True Grit, each amazing and true to the book by Charles Portis, but with different endings. That's why there can be five versions of Pride and Prejudice, or countless versions of Sherlock Holmes. No director can please all of the people - he merely films his vision of the material.



From Muse

The Great Gatsby is very successful in conveying the seedy glitz of New York City in the roaring 20s, which is the setting for Fitzgerald’s classic novel. Anyone who has read the book and saw the film can attest to the fact that it stayed very true to the plot: Nick Carraway (Maguire), a shy, would-be writer is drawn to Long Island by the lure of Wall Street and its promise of riches. He becomes fascinated with his neighbour, Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), an enigmatic millionaire with a taste for hosting extravagant parties.
Through Carraway’s relationships with his beautiful cousin Daisy (Mulligan), her cheating husband Tom Buchanan (Edgerton), and Gatsby himself, he bears witness to the sordid going-ons of the super rich of Long Island.

Ron Charles in Washington Post

Twelve hours after surviving the cultural desecration that is “The Great Gatsby,” it hit me: Baz Luhrmann’s movie version could be the next “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
. . . Every time Daisy speaks, yell, “Her voice is full of money!” and throw Monopoly bills at the screen.
When Gatsby tells Nick, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can,” sing, “Let’s do the time warp again!”

The Jane Austen Book Club

Just ignore the critics. Go and enjoy the spectacle that is The Great Gatsby. It was a pleasant surprise, after reading some fairly critical reviews.
The costumes were breathtaking. I mean truly breathtaking. Along with the sets. I particularly liked the way they dressed the little house next door to Gatsby's mansion where Nick Carraway lived. Arts and Crafts decor done to perfection. Makes me want to see it again.

New York Times Movie Review

“Gatsby” is not gospel; it is grist for endless reinterpretation. Mr. Luhrmann’s reverence for the source material is evident. He sticks close to the details of the story and lifts dialogue and description directly from the novel’s pages. But he has also felt free to make that material his own, bending it according to his artistic sensibility and what he takes to be the mood of the times. The result is less a conventional movie adaptation than a splashy, trashy opera, a wayward, lavishly theatrical celebration of the emotional and material extravagance that Fitzgerald surveyed with fascinated ambivalence.

The Age

This thoroughly modern reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald's great 1925 American novella is radically different in size, shape and tone to its source material. It also contrasts starkly with its cinematic predecessors, all of which had their own issues.
. . . Ultimately, though, what brings this Gatsby crashing down to Earth isn't its blatant disregard for the nuances so prevalent in Fitzgerald's book (which Luhrmann says he hasn't physically read), nor its overly earnest cravings for attention.
Rather, it's the nagging feeling that after 142 minutes, this Gatsby feels as disposable as the socialite parasites who inhabit the great man's world. Luhrmann understandably wants his Gatsby to be great, but he has inadvertently reminded us of one very simple truth: the Great American Novel belongs precisely where it still lives on, 90 years after its inception – on the page.

E.B. White ~ Letter About Libraries

Via @JohnFugelsang on Twitter. I wonder what Mr. White would make of the internet, or ebooks? And hey kids, in case you think this letter looks strange, it was done on an old-fashioned typewriter.

Murdoch Mysteries

Netflix is so addictive, especially when you find a new TV series with lots of episodes. And if the series is based on a book, it's a little bonus because when the episodes are over you can enjoy the characters a different way.

Right now I'm addicted to Murdoch Mysteries, which only has three seasons on Netflix, so books here I come!

Based on books by Maureen Jennings, this Canadian series set in Toronto was never shown in the U.S. and for the life of me I can't understand why, especially with the success of Downton Abbey and Mr. Selfridge on PBS.

There's a handsome lead actor, Yannick Brisson, who owns the character of Detective Murdoch. The supporting cast are delightful and funny - especially Constable Crabtree and his endless list of Aunts with flower names. The plots are imaginative, and the topic is completely trendy - the "Steampunk" turn of the century when inventions and discoveries were being made right and left. Yet society was still Victorian and repressed, which adds much of the tension between strait-laced Constable Murdoch and his lady love and fellow mystery-solver, Dr. Julia Ogden.

If you like old-fashioned mysteries with a little bit of gore, but also enjoy romance, this is the series for you.

Canadian Author Maureen Jennings on Amazon