BBC Series
The series is compost from 6 episodes, each episode is long around 50 minutes (they do say that the whole series is 300 minutes). The first episode aired on 24th September 1995 and the last on 29th October 1995.
The genre that his miniseries is part of it's romance and drama, as the novel.
Episode Guide
I will divide this part as telling the story, in “episodes”. This way there will be told both, the story and the plot, aside the division in the episodes.
Episode 1: The first two scenes that we see in the beginning
is Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley on the horses talking about stuff, and then we
see a girl running down the way, finding latter that that’s Elizabeth
Bennet. And that’s the beginning. We get introduced to the Bennet Family,
the father, the mother and five daughters, all of them un-married – which
brings out their mother’s ambition, to get them married. The first episode
is all about the fact that two rich bachelors arrived in town, and Mrs. Bennet
will do everything to push at least one of her female children in their arms.
The Bennet family meets Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy at a ball in Meryton, where
Mr.Bingley and Jane Bennet (the oldest one) have this love at first sight, while
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet start it on the wrong foot – Mr. Darcy
has the audacity to say that Elizabeth is “tolerable” but “not
handsome enough to tempt”, which naturally she overhears… and her
it starts the prejudice part and pride part.
After this misfortunate moment, Jane is invited to Netherfield, and she gets
a cold there. So Elizabeth decides she must see how she does feel and decides
to go walking till there, where arriving at the estate she meets Mr. Darcy,
who is quite shocked that she walked all that way and probably his inner battles
begin. He is falling for her. The episode ends, with Jane and Elizabeth leaving
Netherfield after Jane got better.
Episode 2: In the second episode there are introduce two new
characters, one being Mr. Collins, a relative to Bennets, and the one who will
get all of their possessions when Mr. Bennet dies. The second one is Mr. Wickham,
the bad guy of the story.
Mrs. Bennet decides that Elizabeth should marry Mr. Collins so the property
even after mr. Bennet’s death would stay in the family. Elizabeth is against
it and her father let’s quote him says:
“An unhappy alternative lies before you, Elizabeth. Your mother will never
see you again if you do *not* marry Mr Collins, and *I* will never see you again
if you *do*.“ showing his total support to his favorite daugter.
The arrival of Mr. Wickham puts Darcy at even worse side in Elizabeth's eyes,
he plays the role of a poor boy, and makes Darcy a demon, saying that he should
have been the cleric at the church at Pemberley but that Darcy hadn't gaven
him what's rightfully his after the death of Darcy's father. Which is another
prejudice added to the pile rising.
The episode ends with Mr. Collins asking Elizabeth to marry him, and she refuses.
Episode 3: Now we arrive at the dramatic part of the series.
Bingleys and Darcy leave Neatherfield and the Bennets find out that probably
it's for good. Jane gets the news that it's probably because Bingley is in company
of Darcy's sister.
To make her feel better they send her for a vacation in London at her uncle
and aunt's house, while Elizabeth got the invitation to visit her friend Charlotte
in Kent, the one who in the end married Mr. Collins, making Elizabeth horrified
of her choice. She is there invited to the home of Lady Cathrine De Bourg, who
is Darcy's aunt. And meets again Darcy there along with his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam
and by chatting with the colonel finds out that Darcy has saved his dearest
friend Bingley from a marriage with an unworthy woman... making the fact that
she begin hating him even more. But the real drama happens toward the end...
when Darcy visits her and asks her to marry him, which Elizabeth with crude
and cruel words refuses... and you after this one are in totaly need of what
will happen next.
Episode 4: I shall call this episode the episode of revealings.
After such harsh rejection, Darcy writes a long letter to Lizzy explaining it
all, even the part of how Wickham is a bad man, while he told Elizabeth about
how Darcy denied him the church, Darcy tells in his letter that he prefered
money to that one, and he comes out also with his family's secret, Wickham tried
to seduce his sister Georgiana for the money, almost ruining her social life
with what he had done. He also admits that he did everyting in his power to
separate Bingley and Jane, but only because .... let's say it clearly because
of their mother and her »want of propriety« and the fact that he
thought that Jane wasn't in love with Bingley. She still hates him at this point.
When she finally comes home she tells the story to Jane and also has problem
with the fact that her parent's are letting one of the youngest sisters to go
with a full regiment to have fun, but nobody listens to her. So Lydia goes and
she chan't stop it.
She is then invited with her aunt and uncle to go with them to Derbyshare and
she accpets. During her stay there she visits Pemberley, the Darcy's household
and is impressed with what she sees there. During her visit Darcy comes back
and has a jump in the lake (yes the lake scene) and when he is drected to the
castle all wet, meets Elizabeth, and there is the most awkward moment ever in
the series. After that when he is properly dressed, he manages to catch Elizabeth
with her relatives and stops them from departing, showing a completly new side
of his character to Elizabeth, making her aunt say that she pictured him deferently.
The episodes ends with them saying goodbye after Darcy tells Lizzie that he
would be delighted if she would meet his sister.
Episode 5: We start with Elizabeth meeting Darcy's sister
Georgiana, who is such a nice lady and also meeting Bingley again, who still
shows interest in her sister, trying to hide it. She passes few nights at Pemberley
in company of Darcy, his sister, Bingley and unfortunatly also his sisters.
We see Elizabeth protect Georgiana from Miss Bingley and her big mouth and also
when Elizabeth is not present, we see Darcy telling Miss Bingley off directly
ststing that he finds Elizabeth one of the most »handsome« women
in his acquaintance. But all the good must end.
Elizabeth receives a letter that Lydia has run off with Wickham. So she and
her aunt and uncle have to go running back home, because that’s tragedy,
especially if the two eloping have not married, it could be catastrophic not
only for Lydia but for the whole family. Mr. Bennet goes to London to try and
find them but he has no such luck, and in the end leaves everything in Mr. Gardiner
hands. What they don’t know is that Darcy manages to find them, and makes
Mr. Gardiner say it was done by him. At the end of the episode we see Mr. Bennet
getting the letter that they did not marry, but they will be married soon, under
the eye of the relatives. The last image is a stern looking Darcy.
Episode 6: last episode, aren’t you happy? Well here
are some funny parts actually. First of all Lydia comes back as a married woman
with Mr. Wickham, and doesn’t even see what she had almost done to her
family, and then she splits the secret about the presence of Mr. Darcy at the
wedding, so Elizabeth writes to her aunt asking explanation, where her aunt
tells her that actually the fact that Lydia and Wickham are married is thanks
to Darcy, both the fact of physical happening and the monetary blaming the thing
on his pride that he never told openly about Wickham and his dark side. Elizabeth
should admit that she has feeling for the man, but… not yet.
One day it happens that Bingley and Darcy come to visit and from there it happens
everything, he sees that Jane still loves his friend, and he tells him to go
for it, and admits to him that he was conceling that he knew that Jane was in
London and hide it from him. Bingley next day asks Jane to marry him.
The fantastic part of this episode is the apearance of Lady Cathrine De Bourg,
who comes to tell Elizabeth that she SHALL NOT marry her nephew because he has
to marry her daughter. Naturaly Elizabeth tells her off, and tells her if he
was to ask her, she would say yes.
Next day (maybe two), Darcy is back, thanks to his aunt who then went to him
and told him about wanting him to give the promise. And Darcy again asks Elizabeth
to marry him, and this time all blushy she says yes... the end of the episode
and the series is the dubble marriage: Jane and Bingley on one side and on the
other Darcy and Elizabeth... last shot is of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy kissing with
love.
The Lake Scene
This scene is something special, not because I said so, even if I admit I always drool on that scene when watching, but the point is, while checking all the information, from the Informational episode to BBCs page about the series, Wikipedia, and all other stuff, there is always mentioned The lake scene. This is the scene were Darcy jumps in the lake near Pemberley and then all nicely wet goes towards his castle and on the way there he meets Elizabeth, bringing an awkward moment between the two, the point of not expecting the other to be there, and for one to be wet and all sexy. The importance of this scene is not just because we see sexy and wet Darcy, but because this scene doesn’t exist in the book. The screenplay writer Andrew Davis has told also that as the fact that Jane Austen in her novel bases everything more on Elizabeth Bennet’s point of view, he wanted to give some more place to Darcy in the series, making this Lizzie and Darcy’s story. And the lake scene is one of those moments when we can see Darcy outside the “stiff” social life, showing another side of Darcy. And the first idea was to have Darcy naked, but Colin wasn’t really friendly with THAT idea.
Characters
The most important are Lizzy and Darcy, so I’m concentrated mostly of them, still I give at least a sentence about some others that helped to come to what we have now.
Elizabeth
“Lizzie” Bennet – She is the main female character
and is played by Jenifer Ehle. The character is a very intelligent woman and
a total free-spirit, while she knows exactly how she must act in public and
at home, she still manages to make intelligent remarks astonishing people who
don’t know her around. She may not be a beauty, but to me she is really
pretty. Her strong points are her brightness, her intelligence, her being stubborn,
but in the end being able to see the difference between right and wrong.
Fitzwilliam
Darcy – He is the main male character and is played by Colin
Firth. At the first moment you have to think that Darcy is actually an arrogant
wealthy prick, and sees most of people below him. But actually he isn’t
really that way, aside the problems in the past and the fact that he has a huge
wealth, make that the people he meet try to get in his grace just for his money,
which makes us understand why he falls in love with Lizzie, she is the one to
answer him back, she doesn’t try to get in his grace and she refuses his
marriage proposal the first time. A person like Darcy discovers this way a new
world he didn’t know existed. After that we find out that Darcy around
those he loves is actually very amiable and devoted person. His strong points
are his money (LOL), intelligence and even if he has too much pride, he in the
end to get the love of the woman he loves is prepared to show his gentle side.
Charles
Bingley – Darcy’s best friend and played by Crispin Bonham-Carter.
I find him one of the funniest character, he is really good natured, he has
lot of money, not as much as Darcy and has to support his two arrogant sisters.
He is the one who falls in love at first sight with Jane, Elizabeth’s
older sister. His strong point is his modesty.
Jane
Bennet – The eldest Bennet daughter is played by Susannah Harker.
She is gentle and aimable, she is sweet-natured and during the series you won’t
hear anyone say something bad about her. She falls in love with Bingley, because
they are the same. Her strong point is also modesty aside that they say that
between Bennet sisters she is the most beautiful.
Mr.
and Mrs. Bennet – the parents are played by Benjamin Whitrow
and Alison Steadman. This pair is surprisingly funny. While he is intelectual
who loves books and good chats, walks in the nature and maybe shooting some
ducks, his wife is frial and her only point in life is to marry her daughters,
even better if the man is wealthy, which also leads to misunderstanding from
the outsiders. Mr. Bennet's strong point is that he manages to survive having
a wife like that and making fun of her. Elizabeth got her wits from him.
George
Wickham –the bad man of the series is played by Adrian Lukis.
Wickham is the classic bad guy, playboy and liar, trying to go after women to
get money from them to pay his gambling debts. He tries to make out of Darcy
the bad guy, but in the end he doesn’t succeed. He marries Lydia at the
end, but only because they make him do it. He decived the poor girl, and if
there was no Darcy to help she would have to live in shame. He has no strong
points if we don’t count being able to lie.
Lydia
Bennet – Younges Bennet, she is played by Julia Sawalha. This
girl is total flirt and doesn’t know what proper in society is. She thinks
she can do everything and almost brings the shame on all her family. The main
problem is that she is impulsive and doesn’t think, and the worst is that
her mother encourages it.
Mary
and Catherine “Kitty” Bennet – The two middle sisters
played by Lucy Briers and Polly Maberly. There is not much to say about those
two. Mary is exaggerated in a way when it comes to God and stuff like that,
while Kitty is almost like Lydia even if she is older than her.
Caroline
Bingley – the harpy of the series is played by Anna Chancellor.
This woman is arrogant, thinks the best of herself, and she also thinks she
is beautiful. Every time we see her, she tries to impress Darcy if he is nearby,
not actually noticing that she is quite failing till when he actually tells
her off gentlemanly.
William
Collins – the funny character is played by David Bamber and is
a pain in the… err… This character is the classic asskisser and
thinks quite highly of himself. He tries to ask Elizabeth to marry him, but
she refuses, so a week later he asks her best friend, and she accepts. He has
an obsession for Lady Cathrine de Bourg.
Georgiana
Darcy – sweet Darcy’s sister is played by Emilia Fox. The
young girl is Darcy’s perl and he would do everything for her. She had
been deceived by Wickham which made her brother worry even more. She is gentle
and shy and the moment she meets Elizabeth they become friends.
Aunt
and Uncle Gardiner – the sane figures in Elizabeth’s life
are played by Tim Wylton and Joanna David. Without them Elizabeth and Darcy
wouldn’t met in a new environment and she wouldn’t been able to
fall for him. Both are really nice people, who try to do the best for their
children and nieces, and are also those who helped the most with Lydia eloping
with Wickham.
Lady
Catherine de Bourg – the great woman is played by Barbara Leigh-Hunt,
this one is just to mention her because she is so good in her being anthipatic
and looking at the people from up and thinking them all below. The best part
of her is coming to Elizabeth and telling her that she must refuse Darcy if
he asks her to marry him. Quite a spectacular part of the 6th Episode.
Quotes
Darcy:
“She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me.«
»In vain have I struggled, it will not do. You must allow me to tell you
how ardently I admire and love you.«
Elizabeth:
»Perhaps I didn't always love him as well as I do now, but in such cases
as these a good memory is unpardonable.«
»Insufferable presumption!«
»You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy. The mode of your declaration merely spared
me any concern I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more
gentleman-like manner. You could not have made me the offer of your hand in
any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it. From the very beginning
your manners impressed me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit
and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others. I had not known you a month
before I felt you were the last man in the world whom I could ever marry!«
»Lady Catherine, in marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself
as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman, I am a gentleman's daughter. So
far we are equal.«
Mrs.Bennet:
»Oh, sit up straight, Jane! Pull your shoulders back! A man could go a
long way without seeing a figure like yours, if you could only make the most
of it!«
Darcy and Elizabeth:
Mr. Darcy: Do you talk by rule, then, when you're dancing?
Elizabeth Bennet: Yes, sometimes it is best. Then we may enjoy the
advantage of saying as little as possible.
Mr. Darcy: Do you consult your own feelings in this case, or seek to
gratify mine?
Elizabeth Bennet: Both, I imagine. We are each of an unsocial, taciturn
disposition, unwilling to speak unless we expect to say something that will
amaze the whole room.
Mr. Darcy: [Drily] This is no very striking resemblance of your own
character, I'm sure.
Mr. Darcy: Miss Bennet!
Elizabeth Bennet: Mr Darcy.
[Long, awkward pause]
Elizabeth Bennet: I am come to see my sister.
Mr. Darcy: On foot?
Elizabeth Bennet: As you see.
[Another long, awkward pause]
Elizabeth Bennet: Would you be so kind as to take me to her?
Darcy and Miss Bingley:
Miss Bingley: I remember, when we first knew her in Hertfordshire,
how amazed we all were to find that she was a reputed beauty; and I particularly
recollect your saying one night, after they had been dining at Netherfield,
"She a beauty. - I should as soon call her mother a wit." But afterwards
she seemed to improve on you, and I believe you thought her rather pretty at
one time.'
Mr. Darcy: [Irritated] Yes, but that was only when I first knew her,
for it has been many months now since I have considered her one of the handsomest
women of my acquaintance.
Darcy and Bingley:
Mr. Bingley: [Furious] You tell me now she was in London all those
months and you concealed it from me?
Mr. Darcy: Yes. I can offer no justification. It was an arrogant presumption
based on a failure to recognize your true feelings and Miss Bennet's. I should
never have interfered. It was very wrong of me, Bingley, and I apologise.
Mr. Bingley: [Stunned] You admit that you were in the wrong?
Mr. Darcy: Utterly and completely.
Mr. Bingley: Then... I have your blessing?
Mr. Darcy: [Amused] Do you need my blessing?
Mr. Bingley: No. But I should like to know I have it all the same.
Mr. Bingley: Darcy, I shall never understand why you go through the
world determined to be displeased with everything and everyone in it.
Mr. Darcy: And I will never understand why you are always in a rage
to approve of everything and everyone that you meet.
Interesting Information
- Colin Firth at the beginning refused the part, because he didn’t felt enough good to be Darcy, but after reading the script he changed his mind.
- Along with Alison Steadman, Colin Firth didn’t need to go to audition. The two actors were offered the participation in the series.
- Already on the auditions the participants had to wear costumes and full makeup, so the producers and director could see if they could really fit, not only as actors but also as presence.
- Most of the costumes had to be made from scratch.
- Lacock village was chosen as Meryton, this village was also in Harry Potter movies, Molly Flanders, Randall and Hopkirk.
- The lake scene wet Darcy has been "Universaly acknowledged voted nude scene" by The Guardian
- Colin and Jenifer during the series become a couple. But it came out only after they broke up.