Pride-ful, part two

It turns out there are TWO Pride and Prejudice documentaries screening on Tuesday, September 13th.

Firstly, the one mentioned before, Pride and Prejudice Revisited on at 9.30pm, 11.05pm and 3.40am on BBC4. This one is about the impact of the book and focuses on a number of adaptations. NB: this is not to be confused with ANOTHER documentary called Pride and Prejudice Revisited, airing on ITV1 on Sunday 11th, which is a making-of feature about the new film.

Secondly, there is Drama Connections. This is the one reported a while ago, that's specifically about the development of the 1995 mini-series. This is screening at 10.35pm on BBC1.

Drama Connnections
Tue 13 Sep, 10:35 pm - 11:05 pm 30mins

Pride and Prejudice

The behind the scenes story of how the BBC's 1995 Pride and Prejudice came to our screens as the unlikely result of a teacher-pupil relationship forged in Coventry.

When producer Sue Birtwistle and writer Andrew Davies told LWT's Nick Elliott that they wanted to adapt 'the sexiest book ever written' he cleared his diary to meet them the next day. Little did he know that they were talking about Jane Austen's 200-year-old Pride and Prejudice. Nine years later the audience were watching in their millions - on the BBC.

The journey of the Pride and Prejudice with that famous scene and that famous shirt certainly isn't smooth. But it ends in triumph. And along the way we discover quite how many of the cast worked with the writer and producer in the many years the project was on hold.

Drama Connections reveals how important a part was played by the costumes, what happened to that shirt, just how little Andrew Davies thought Darcy should be wearing when he dived into the lake, and exactly why Colin Firth himself couldn't do the diving.

Interviewees include screenwriter Andrew Davies, producer Sue Birtwistle, director Simon Langton, costume designer Dinah Collin and actors David Bamber, Adrian Lukis and Lucy Briers.

So to recap: watch Episode 1 of Pride and Prejudice at 7.00pm and Episode 2 at 8.35pm on BBC4. Immediately after that, there's Pride and Prejudice Revisited at 9.30pm, also on BBC4. It finishes at 10.00pm. Make yourself a cup of tea, and settle back on the couch at 10.35pm to watch Drama Connections on BBC1. Once that finishes, and you still haven't had enough, switch back to BBC4 to watch Revisited again at 11.05pm and/or 3.40am. Stagger to bed happy.