For this year’s event, I am combining my recent summer subscription to PBS Passport with the upcoming 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth this December.
To start, I am doing a rewatch of Death Comes to Pemberley , the 2013 miniseries adaptation of P. D. James’ mystery novel that has Darcy(Matthew Rhys) investigating a murder allegedly committed by his most unwelcome former friend and in-law Wickham(Matthew Goode).
With Elizabeth (Anna Maxwell Martin) on hand to offer some unofficial assistance, this mystery reveals more than meets the eye to say the least. The cast is great, the story is engaging and yes, Lady Catherine does make an appearance!:
After that, the rest of the month will be a rewatch of Season One of Sanditon.
The 2019 series, based upon an unfinished novel by Austen(who was working on up to the time of her passing), was originally a one and done endeavor but the popularity of a certain Netflix series gave it two more seasons, which I throughly enjoyed.
However, I am just covering S1 due to time limits and being inspired by the good folk at the podcast Reclaiming Jane, who are beginning their new season with a look at adaptations and starting off with this very show!
For those unfamiliar with this story, Sanditon is set at a seaside town hoping to become a destination spot for travelers with two of their new visitors being the naive Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) and reluctant heiress Georgiana Lambe(Crystal Clarke).
Granted, a seaside location does have a summer vibe to it but trust and believe, there is plenty of drama, romance and scandal to make those autumn leaves shiver right off the trees rather early:
I might also do a reread of the source material (yes, I actually have an adaptation of the Sanditon series written by novelist Kate Riordan on hand)for a little compare and contrast, we shall see.
In the meanwhile, I am happy to have Masterpiece Theater readily available, due to signing up with my local PBS station-yes, I’m one of those “viewers like you”that get a thanks during every show!
Especially with public television being under threat these days, it feels like the right thing to do as a thank you to PBS for bringing us such great shows and solid educational programming all year along.
Masterpiece productions have been a wonderful way to share a love of classic and modern literature with a wider audience that should be respected as well as celebrated for many years to come. Hopefully, this will not be the last summer to hear that familiar theme music announcing another great show:
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