The producers of Poldark are taking a shot at an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, drawing out the tale’s “darker tones.”
That’s according to Radio Times, though dates and cast are still TBD:
The producer [Mammoth Screen], which also makes ITV smash hit Victoria starring Jenna Coleman, has commissioned acclaimed playwright Nina Raine – author of 2017 hit National Theatre play Consent – to adapt the classic novel, in a version that will aim to tease out the story’s “darker tones” according to Mammoth Screen. This will be Raine’s first TV adaptation.
“Pride and Prejudice is actually a very adult book, much less bonnet-y than people assume,” Raine told Radio Times. Well, yes—one of the major characters thinks nothing of seducing teenage girls. “I hope I do justice to Austen’s dark intelligence—sparkling, yes, but sparkling like granite.”
“In this age of the box set—with audiences loving to binge on complex, serialised dramas—it feels absolutely right to reassess the great classics. Every generation needs its own adaptation of this perfect novel,” said Mammoth Screen managing director Damien Timmer, who is incorrect. There is no absolutely no “need” for another version of Pride and Prejudice.
That said, as Radio Times notes, there have been no fewer than five British TV adaptations of Pride and Prejudice (however, all by the BBC). That’s on top of the movies, the mystery novels, the modern versions, the fan fiction, the zombie remixes. So while every new trip to this particular well grows a little more ridiculous, at this point, even a completely execrable disaster couldn’t put a dent in the original’s appeal. Pride and Prejudice is unstoppable. So everybody in the world might as well give it their best shot. Just do something fresh and interesting, for the love of God.