Death Comes to Pemberley

Being a fan of PD James and Jane Austin I was looking forward to watching this show. It took a while to get past Elizabeth being totally out of character...at least from the stand point of Pride and Prejudice 1995 version. They dressed her down and made her look kind of dowdy and act miserable through most of the show. They didn't change the character of Darcy much--as my mother said, it looks like he has a toothache through most of the show. The colonel was also changed to be a rather secretive fellow, unlike his easy going character in P&P. The other characters seemed to mesh well with their original characters. If you have never seen Pride and Prejudice (1995 version) then you won't be disappointed. It is a good little English mystery.

First , I do have to agree with reviewers who noted anachronisms of language and highly unlikely behaviours - Georgiana falling to her knees crying in front of male servants in the public rooms being one of the most obvious. I do not believe for a moment in the central premise that Darcy and family would be cast into Outer Darkness socially because his brother-in-law was a criminal. Gossiped about undoubtedly, but bad apples among the aristocracy are hardly uncommon now or then.

I feel also critical of the costuming and general appearance of Elizabeth , it become clear at the end as to why she might have looked tired but why she should be so badly dressed is beyond me . One coat-like garment resembles nothing so much as a hessian bag and she appears to only wear two plain dresses for weeks on end. Georgiana seems to have only one - though it is a nicer one . And Elizabeth's hair seem so be permanently dishevelled for no good reason. While I'm carping , I also have to say I don't understand why there appears to be almost no upper servants in the vast edifice of Pemberley. Such an establishment would have a steward and/or butler, several footmen and under-footmen and Mrs Reynolds would have many maids under her . Ah well, no matter really I guess.

On the plus side, I thought all the acting was great , especially the female cast. Lydia was beautifully cast and played, as was Lady Catherine and Mrs Bennett . I wish they could have had bigger roles in fact . So, in spite of the above mentioned criticisms, I have to say it was a very watchable period drama and , actually, much more fun than the the book . I like PD James very much , but this was NOT her best work and frankly rather a tedious dry read .

Okay I know this is a piece of fan fiction, and I did enjoy it. It does keep you guessing til the end and it's worth watching. But....

When you use well known and loved characters from something as famous as Pride and Prejudice, they should at least stay faithful to their original characters. Which it does, mostly, but the portrayal of Elizabeth Bennett was just really off. She's supposed to be beautiful, witty and fun loving, whilst perceptive. In this she comes across as a plain, almost miserable woman. I did not like this portrayal at all and it did ruin it for me a bit.

Daniel Peacock's adaptation of P. D. James' reworking of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE offers a fascinating combination of styles and stylistics. It unfolds in the leisurely manner of most British television detective thrillers, taking care to sketch in the characters and define their relationship to one another. A murder occurs two-thirds of the way through the first episode, and the remainder of the time is spent outlining the series of hypotheses, assumptions (some mistaken), and clues that lead to the unmaking of the culprit. DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY also situates itself squarely in the heritage adaptation genre, with plenty of exterior shots of the Darcys' house (I counted twelve in episode one alone), augmented with moments of period 'realism' as various types of coach and horse arrive and depart from the front entrance. The cast comprises a series of star names calculated to appeal to different generations of television viewers; Jenna Coleman from EMMERDALE and DOCTOR WHO shares the screen with Trevor Eve (WAKING THE DEAD, SHOESTRING) and Penelope Keith (THE GOOD LIFE, TO THE MANOR BORN). The acting is competent without being out of the ordinary, although I do wonder whether the Lydia Bennet of Austen and James would have reacted with quite such ferocity to her husband's arrest. What gives this production is true fascination, however, is the way in which director Peacock deliberately references Simon Langton's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1995) throughout the mise-en-scene. This can be seen in the costume- designs (by Marianne Agertoft), as well as in the characterization: Elizabeth Bennet (Anna Maxwell Martin) communicates the same spirit of quiet determination embodied by Jennifer Ehle in the earlier production. She is also shot in much the same way, with the emphasis placed on her reactions to what happens around her. Her mother (Rebecca Front) seems completely oblivious to her offspring's feelings and shrilly complains of having had a fit should anything go wrong, in a performance inspired by Alison Steadman's reading in the earlier revival. Likewise her husband; James Fleet follows Benjamin Whitrow in maintaining a facade of polite loyalty to Mrs. Bennet, while searching for any opportunity to escape. The experience of watching DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY is a fascinating one, an exercise in identifying intertexts as well as understanding how adaptations are shaped as much by other adaptations as by their source-texts. Definitely worth watching.

I am sorry to disagree with the many fans of this. The dialogue is terribly anachronistic and a million miles from the style of Jane Austen. "Let's not overreact" from Darcy, for example, and worst of all from Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the world's most supercilious and conservative woman of her age, who says to Lizzie, "We need to talk". Need I say more?

I'm not an expert on legal procedures through the ages, but I strongly suspect that the court scenes were anachronistic, too. Others can probably give better information on this.

Also, I noticed very little chemistry between the Darcys, despite what some have claimed.