A film expert from »ÆÉ«²Ö¿â Leicester (»ÆÉ«²Ö¿â) plays a key role in a new film made to mark the 30th Anniversary of the BBC's seminal adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Adapted for television by renowned screenwriter Andrew Davies, the BBC’s famous six-part serialisation of Austen’s 1813 novel caused a stir when first broadcast in September 1995, attracting ten million viewers per episode.
Now, a new film produced by Jane Austen's House at Chawton, called Celebrating 30 years of Pride and Prejudice, is set to premier on YouTube at 9pm on 24 September - the precise time the first episode aired, 30 years ago to the day.
The hour-long film is an 'in conversation' between Andrew Davies and script editor Susie Conklin, as they recall the making of this series.
The conversation is chaired by cultural historian Justin Smith, Professor of Cinema and Television History at »ÆÉ«²Ö¿â, and also features contributions from original cast-members Crispin Bonham-Carter (who played Mr Bingley) and Susannah Harker (Jane Bennet).
(L to R Justin Smith, Susie Conklin, and Andrew Davies.)
The film was shot before a live audience in the drawing room of Jane Austen’s house in the Hampshire villagen of Chawton, where the novelist spent the last eight years of her life, and where she penned the six novels for which she is now world-famous: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion.
Justin Smith said: “It was an absolute pleasure to reunite Andrew Davies, Susie Conklin, Crispin Bonham-Carter and Susannah Harker in the hallowed environs of Jane Austen’s House for this very special trip down memory lane.
"It’s obvious in the film how precious this particular adaptation was for each of them at the time, how committed they all were to bringing Pride and Prejudice to the screen in a fresh, modern way that was also utterly respectful of its literary stature and its universal popularity, and just how much fun they all had on what was, by all accounts, a thoroughly happy production as well as an enormously successful one.”
In the BBC's Pride and Prejudice, the best known scene, and one that helped catapult Colin Firth to stardom, is where Mr Darcy - played by Firth - emerges from a lake fully clothed and dripping wet.
No such event occurs in Austen’s novel - it was completely made up for TV by Andrew Davies. But, in the new film, Davies reveals that the famous scene was not designed to update Austen’s centuries-old story with a modern sexy moment: “It wasn’t supposed to be sexy in any particular way, really,” he says.
“I just had this idea because I was continually trying to think ‘what’s Darcy feeling?’. Let’s keep the audience parallel with him in a way.
“At this time, he’s been in London hosting a rather boring house party with stuffy bores and snobs, and he’s coming back to Pemberley to host another house party in his country house, with the same bloody people.
“He must have been so glad to get a day of his own where nobody’s making any demands on him. It is a hot summer's day, and he arrives at his house, and he sees his lake, and he thinks there’s my lake.
“I know what I would like to do. I would like to just take everything off and plunge into the cool water and forget about everything, except the fact that I’m alive.”
The film will be available here, on YouTube from 9pm:
Andrew Davies’ archive - including original versions of his Pride and Prejudice screenplay, and the papers of Pride and Prejudice producer Sue Birtwistle - are held at »ÆÉ«²Ö¿â in the Kimberlin Library's Special Collections on the main campus in Leicester.
Items from their archives, including transmission scripts and production notes, have contributed to Austenmania! – a year-long exhibition at Jane Austen’s House, celebrating 30 years of the iconic adaptations of 1995: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion and Clueless!
An online version of the exhibition is also available here: .
Posted on Wednesday 24 September 2025