The Jane Austen Collection

This collection includes the complete works of Jane Austen in over 22 hours of classic television. These timeless novels spring vividly to life in lovingly remastered original productions from the BBC. Full of wit and charm, with an equal amount of humor and drama, these adaptations provide a relaxing escape into the elegant and romantic world of 18th century England.

Includes Sense and Sensibility (1981), Emma (1972), Mansfield Park (1983), Persuasion (1971), Pride and Prejudice (1980) and Northanger Abbey (1986)

Sense & Sensibility (1981)
This delightful story tells of two sisters attempting to find happiness in the tightly structured society of 18th century England. Elinor, disciplined, restrained and very conscious of the manners of the day, represents sense. Outspoken, impetuous, emotional Marianne represents sensibility. Attracted to a man already promised to another, Elinor suffers silently to keep scandal away from her family. Marianne enjoys a flirtation with a handsome scoundrel that could lead to her downfall. Through their experiences with men and their relationship with each other, they learn that neither sense nor sensibility alone is enough, but that one must strive for a balance of the two.

Emma (1972)
Emma presides over the small provincial world of Highbury with enthusiasm, but she will find that it is all too easy to confuse good intentions with self-gratification. The often insensitive, ever well-meaning, incorrigible Emma Woodhouse having engineered the marriage of governess, companion and friend Miss Taylor, now turns her attention towards making a match for Mr. Elton, the local vicar, and her new protégée Harriet Smith. Her one voice of reason and restraint is Mr. Knightley, who has known her since she was a child and who watches her behavior with wry amusement and sometimes with real anger.

Mansfield Park (1983)
Set in 18th century England, Jane Austen’s tale of virtue and vice, tells of young impoverished fanny Price who arrives at the elegant country estate of her uncle Sir Thomas Bertram. Snubbed by everyone except her cousin Edmund, Fanny begins her long struggle for acceptance by her shallow relatives who believe wealth automatically means quality. When Fanny finally wins the respect of her snobbish relatives, she incurs the displeasure of her uncle by rejecting the handsome philanderer Henry Crawford because she has fallen in love with Edmund.

Persuasion (1971)
When Anne Elliot turned down Captain Wentworth’s proposal of marriage, she allowed herself to be ‘persuaded’ by her snobbish family’s conviction of his unworthiness. But now, after a separation of 8 years, Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth are to meet again, and the tables have turned. Her former lover’s fortunes have prospered and he is now returned from a career at sea both eligible and affluent. Anne’s father, Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall, has been forced to lease their home and move the family into a rather small abode in Bath. Just as Anne now recognizes the false values that persuaded her to reject Captain Wentworth, so she must also accept that his heart now seems set upon the youth and beauty of the impetuous Louisa Musgrove.

Pride & Prejudice (1980)
The story of the lively, precocious and very eligible Bennet girls captures all the nuances of 18th century life among the English gentry, a society obsessed with profitable marriage contracts. When the wealthy and aloof Mr. Darcy insults Elizabeth Bennet at a dance, the tension and romance of their relationship is sparked, while the family beauty Jane attracts the attention of a gentleman presumed to be above her station. Her flirtatious younger sister Lydia lands herself in a steamy scandal that could ruin the reputation and “chances” of all the Bennet sisters.

Northanger Abbey (1986)
The setting is eighteenth-century Bath, a society of decadence and deceit, into which Catherine Morland arrives bursting with freshness, integrity and a passion for macabre gothic novels. In a time when materialism, not love, governs marriage, Catherine’s head is full of fantasy and fiction, of maidens being abducted to sinister castles and heroes riding to the rescue on white horses. When romantic Henry Tilney invites her to his ancestral home, Northanger Abbey, a dark mystery starts to unfold that makes her blood run cold. Are her fantasies coming true? What does the brooding General Tilney want from her and will truth destroy her chance for love…?

Sense & Sensibility (1891)

Elinor Dashwood	---	Irene Richard
Marianne Dashwood	---	Tracey Childs
Mrs. Dashwood	---	Diana Fairfax
Willoughby	---	Peter Woodward
Edward Ferrars	---	Bosco Hogan
Colonel Brandon	---	Robert Swann
Sir John Middleton	---	Donald Douglas
Mrs. Jennings	---	Annie Leon
John Dashwood	---	Peter Gale
Fanny Dashwood	---	Amanda Boxer
Lucy Steele	---	Julia Chambers
Mrs. Wallis	---	Elizabeth Benson
Lady Middleton	---	Marjorie Bland
Robert Ferrars	---	Philip Bowen
Mr. Palmer	---	Christopher Brown
Clay	---	William Lawford
Mr. Harris	---	Raymond Mason
Tom	---	John Owens
Susan	---	Gina Rowe
Ann Steele	---	Pippa Sparkes
Mrs. Ferrars	---	Margot Van der Burgh
Mr. Ingall	---	John Woodnutt
Charlotte Palmer	---	Hetty Baynes

Written by Jane Austen
Screenplay by Alexander Baron
Directed by Rodney Bennett
Produced by Barry Letts
Original Music by Dudley Simpson
Film Editing by Malcolm Banthorpe
Costume Design by Dorothea Wallace

Emma (1972)

Emma Woodhouse	---	Doran Goodwin
Mr. Knightley	---	John Carson
Mr. Woodhouse	---	Donald Eccles
Miss Bates	---	Constance Chapman
Mrs. Weston	---	Ellen Dryden
Mr. Weston	---	Raymond Adamson
Frank Churchill	---	Robert East
Jane Fairfax	---	Ania Marson
Mrs. Elton	---	Fiona Walker
Mr. Elton	---	Timothy Peters
Harriet Smith	---	Debbie Bowen
Robert Martin	---	John Alkin
Mrs. Goddard	---	Mollie Sugden
Mrs. Cole	---	Hilda Fenemore
Isabella Knightley	---	Meg Gleed
John Knightley	---	John Kelland
Henry Knightley	---	Arran Tighe
John Knightley	---	Yves Tighe
Bella Knightley	---	Belinda Tighe

Written by Jane Austen
Screenplay by Denis Constanduros
Directed by John Glenister
Produced by Martin Lisemore
Film Editing by Clare Douglas

Mansfield Park (1983)

Fanny Price	---	Sylvestra Le Touzel
Edmund Bertram	---	Nicholas Farrell
Aunt Norris	---	Anna Massey
Sir Thomas Bertram	---	Bernard Hepton
Lady Bertram	---	Angela Pleasence
Young Tom	---	Giles Ashton
Young Julia	---	Sharon Beare
Maria Bertram	---	Samantha Bond
Mr. Price	---	David Buck
Henry Crawford	---	Robert Burbage
Sam Price	---	Paul Davies Prowles
Curate	---	Paul Doust
Young Fanny	---	Katy Durham-Matthews
Mrs. Grant	---	Susan Edmonstone
Mr. Norris	---	Peter Finn
Mrs. Price	---	Alison Fiske
William Price	---	Allan Hendrick
Dr. Grant	---	Gordon Kaye
Mr. Yates	---	Robin Langford
Young Edmund	---	Alex Lowe
Susan Price	---	Eryl Maynard
Charles Price	---	Johnny Lee Miller
Betsey Price	---	Claire Simmons
Mary Crawford	---	Jackie Smith-Wood

Written by Jane Austen
Screenplay by Ken Taylor
Directed by David Giles
Produced by Betty Willingale
Original Music by Derek Bourgeois
Cinematography by Chris Wickham, Trevor Wimlett
Film Editing by Stan Pow
Costume Design by John Bone

Persuasion (1971)

Anne Elliot	---	Ann Fairbank
Captain Wentworth	---	Bryan Marshall
Sir Walter Elliot	---	Basil Dignam
Elizabeth Elliot	---	Valerie Gearon
Lady Russell	---	Marian Spencer
Mrs. Croft	---	Georgine Anderson
Admiral Croft	---	Richard Vernon
Mary Musgrove	---	Morag Hood
Charles Musgrove	---	Rowland Davies
Henrietta Musgrove	---	Mel Martin
Louisa Musgrove	---	Zhivila Roche
Mrs. Musgrove	---	Noel Dyson
Mr. Musgrove	---	William Kendall
Mrs. Clay	---	Charlotte Mitchell
Mr. Elliot	---	David Savile
Mrs. Harville	---	Helen Ryan
Captain Harville	---	Michael Culver
Doctor	---	Robert Sansom
Captain Benwick	---	Paul Chapman
Colonel Wallis	---	Ernest Hare
Charles Hayter	---	Paul Alexander
Mrs. Rooke	---	Gabrielle Daye
Mrs. Smith	---	Polly Murch
Lady Dalrymple	---	Beatrix Mackey
Miss Carteret	---	Angela Galbraith

Written by Jane Austen
Screenplay by Julian Mitchell
Directed by Howard Baker
Produced by Howard Baker
Film editing by Stan Challis
Costume Design by Esther Dean

Pride & Prejudice (1980)

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy	---	David Rintoul
Elizabeth Bennet	---	Elizabeth Garvie
Col. Fitzwilliam	---	Desmond Adams
Mr. Hurst	---	Edward Arthur
Mr. Bingley	---	Osmund Bullock
Mrs. Philips	---	Shirley Cain
Mrs. Hill	---	Janet Davies
Caroline Bingley	---	Marsha Fitzalan
Jane Bennet	---	Sabina Franklyn
Mrs. Hurst	---	Jennifer Granville
Kitty Bennet	---	Clare Higgins
Sir William Lucas	---	Peter Howell
Georgiana Darcy	---	Emma Jacobs
Capt. Denny	---	Andrew Johns
Mr. Gardiner	---	Michael Lees
Anne de Bourgh	---	Moir Leslie
Mrs. Reynolds	---	Doreen Mantle
Mrs. Bennet	---	Priscilla Morgan
Lydia Bennet	---	Natalie Ogle
Lady Catherine de Bourgh	---	Judy Parfitt
Mary Bennet	---	Tessa Peake-Jones
Mr. Collins	---	Malcolm Rennie
Charlotte Lucas	---	Irene Richard
Mr. Wickham	---	Peter Settelen
Mrs. Gardiner	---	Barbara Shelley
Lady Lucas	---	Elizabeth Stewart
Mr. Bennet	---	Moray Watson

Written by Jane Austen
Screenplay by Fay Weldon
Directed by Cyril Coke
Produced by Jonathan Powell
Original Music by Wilfred Josephs
Cinematography by Paul Wheeler
Film Editing by Chris Wimble
Costume Design by Joan Ellacott

Northanger Abbey (1986)

Catherine Morland	---	Katharine Schlessinger
Henry Tilney	---	Peter Firth
General Tilney	---	Robert Hardy
Mrs. Allen	---	Googie Withers
Mr. Allen	---	Geoffrey Chater
Isabella Thorpe	---	Cassie Stuart
John Thorpe	---	Jonathan Coy
Eleanor Tilney	---	Ingrid Lacey
Frederick Tilney	---	Greg Hicks
James Morland	---	Philip Bird
Mrs. Thorpe	---	Elvi Hale
Mrs. Morland	---	Helen Fraser
Mr. Morland	---	David Rolfe
Alice	---	Angela Curran
Miss Digby	---	Tricia Morrish
Edward Morland	---	Oliver Hembrough

Written by Jane Austen
Screenplay by Maggie Wadey
Directed by Giles Foster
Produced by Louis Marks
Original Music by Ilona Sekacz
Cinematography by Nat Crosby
Film editing by Robin Sales
Costume Design by Nicholas Rocker

 

Jane Austen accepted a marriage proposal from the prosperous Mr. Harris Bigg-Wither on December 2, 1802. She changed her mind on December 3.