Alert Janeite Franka sent us news that the IMDB listing for the upcoming BBC Sense and Sensibility miniseries has been updated with several cast members; interestingly, the apothecary who attends Marianne is listed but not Colonel Brandon! Fortunately, Franka also sent us a press release from the BBC about filming, which includes confirmation that David Morrissey is indeed playing Colonel Brandon as has been previously rumored. The press release calls it a “three-part adaptation” and we believe that means three hour-long episodes.

Sense And Sensibility is a story of two young sisters on a voyage of burgeoning sexual and romantic discovery.

Of course it is.

Producer Anne Pivcevic adds: “Our version explores the female gaze, the men are very much the sex objects as we follow the story through the women’s eyes.”

Interesting–there is an essay, we cannot recall the name at the moment but we’re sure someone will find it for us, that claims S&S95 does exactly the same thing. (We think it’s in Jane Austen in Hollywood but are not perfectly sure–might be a back number of Persuasions.)

“It’s a passionate and powerful piece, filled with a rich mix of both emerging and established talent. With Andrew’s fairydust sprinkled over it

*snicker*

“Together with the wonderful return of Dame Judi Dench to BBC One in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford Chronicles

*squeeeeees off-topically*

Sense And Sensibility is filming on location in Berkshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Devon until early June.

Alert Janeite Melanie also forwarded an article from The Times about the adaptation. We’re not sure if the writer actually spoke with Andrew Davies or just, er, interpreted the press release creatively.

Stung by ITV’s ratings, the BBC is returning to Austen in partnership with Andrew Davies, the award-winning screenwriter who reinvented Pride and Prejudice for the 1995 serial, starring Firth.

Actually, this production was planned long before the ITV films were aired, so the ratings were not known.

Davies, whose reputation for adding lashings of eroticism to period pieces is well-earned, promised that his Sense will be “Sex in the City set in the country.”

Oh, that roguish man! What a joker he is! But we shall not be taken in. We’re sure everyone will just be holding hands and maybe there will be a chaste kiss on the cheek or two.

In the story of two young sisters on a voyage of sexual and romantic discovery after the death of their father, the BBC has cast two relative unknowns as female leads.

This can be a good thing, but being a thoroughly cynical Middle-Aged Austen Whore, we suspect it was done in the interest of not having to pay Keira Knightley-level wages. 😉