My previous post was perhaps more of a positive that’s why I decided on two posts as this is a negative.
In Episode 5 during the introduction scene Georgiana says to Elizabeth; ” I should dearly love to hear you play, my brother has told me he has rarely heard anything that gave him more pleasure ” to which Elizabeth replied “You shall, but I assure you your brother has grossly….” .
Elizabeth states “You shall, but I warn you your brother has grossly..” how does she know that Georgiana will hear her play? At that stage she had not been invited to Pemberley nor had she been asked to perform so why on earth does she say “you shall” . More to the point why didn’t the editors/writers/director and/or producer notice this and fix it before allowing the program to be aired?
That’s gripe 1 now for gripe 2 which occurs in the same episode. Elizabeth settles down to read letters from her sister and in the opening paragraph of the first letter she reads (with Jane’s voice reading them for our benefit) “… I confess I have hardly had time to write, my nephews and nieces have commandeered every moment…….” Nephews and nieces? Surely cousins, the children are her Uncle and Aunt Gardiner’s children and her mother, Mrs Bennet’s, nieces and nephews so how did this slip by the editors and make the program which came to air?
I know I’m being picky but mistakes like these get under my skin and I certainly don’t expect the BBC to make such obvious boo boo’s.
Perhaps it’s time they did a new production and this time do without that ridiculous pond scene. I’d like to see Claire Foy play Elizabeth and Richard Armitage Mr Darcy, I think Claire Foy would be more like the character, physically, that Jane Austen described; Jennifer Ehle was I think brilliant in the part,(except that her voice changed to often) but at 5’7″ much to tall for Elizabeth, the way I read the book and I read it often, is that Elizabeth is quite petite, her dad refers to her as “my little Lizzie” and all indications are she is! I don’t know how tall Miss Foy is but every thing I have seen her in she appears quite petite and I look at her and think ‘Elizabeth Bennet’.
Likewise, when I look at Mr Armitage I see him as Mr Darcy although how he’d go in a period piece I have no idea, I’ve only seen him in programs like ‘Spooks” and some other show where he was a disgraced soldier taking on the Taliban and other baddies, a Pommy, Bruce Willis, type of part sort of thing. But I’d bet he’d make the women forget Colin Firth as Mr D.!
The rest of the cast? I’m at a loss!
LordBeariOfBow 
There’sno forgetting Colin as Mr Darcy I’m afraid!
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I never said that there would be no forgetting Colin Firth as Mr Darcy, however it is my contention that he is not quite what women like to make out. Perhaps they are “turned on’ by the pond scene, a 19th century version of the wet T shirt and that was the intent of the director, to titillate the sexual fantasies of some females. In this he succeeded, however anybody that has read the book thoroughly several times in all honesty will admit that Mr Firths portrayal of Miss Austen hero Mr Darcy is sadly lacking. His performance is good at times but overall it is quite mediocre; one has to look beyond his good looks and beautiful diction. It is an exceedingly difficult role to play for any actor, I believe that even Laurence Olivier great actor that he was made a complete hash of it, he actually hammed it up disgustingly.
I think that Richard Burton in his prime would have played the part to perfection, a most extraordinary actor and his performance would have been the hallmark for any aspiring actor keen to take on the role.
Thank you for your interest and remarks.
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It occurs to me that in my blog I made no mention of Mr Firth; I did mention the ridiculous pond scene which actually had nothing to do with him except acting out the part as written into the script and production.
Obviously you were under the impression that my gripe was concerning this scene; however if you would like to read the blog again you will find it is my gripe regarding two completely different matters, matters which you have selected to ignore for reasons best known to you.
However, I thank you for your concern for Mr Firth and I am sure if he ever gets around to reading this post he will thank you too.
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