Alert Janeites Anna and Maisy reported in comments, and Alert Janeites Laurel Ann and Lisa via e-mail, that the BBC has announced some more cast members for Emma 2009.

Jodhi May (Einstein And Eddington, Friends And Crocodiles) plays Miss Taylor, Emma’s former governess who marries the good-humoured Mr Weston played by Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet, White Teeth, My Dad’s The Prime Minister).

Tamsin Greig (The Diary Of Anne Frank, Green Wing) plays the incessantly chatty, well-meaning Miss Bates whose poverty draws the pity and goodwill of all of Highbury.

The Hornblower fans who read (and write on) this blog will no doubt be delighted to see more of poor Mr. Eccleston, who came to such a bad end. “The ship…is yours…Mr. Hornblower.” *sniff* (he lives on in fanfic, fear not)

In other Emma adaptation news, Alert Janeite Reeba also sent in an article with a tidbit about Ayesha, the modern-set Bollywood adaptation of Emma starring Sonam Kapoor. We now know which gentleman will play whom, and Reeba has kindly provided links so we can check them out: Mr Knightley will be played by Abhay Deol; Mr. Elton by Cyrus Sahukar; and Frank Churchill by Arunoday Singh.