"Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody not greatly in fault themselves to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest." Jane Austen (Mansfield Park).
The popularity of the adaptations of Jane Austen's novels, over two hundred years after their original publication, is staggering. Much is attributed to her use of such universal themes as marriage, social pressure, and the generation gap; many love her strong, spirited and unpretentious heroines and her emphasis on reason, moderation, fidelity and consideration; but most of all it is her sparkling dialogue, razor-sharp wit, marvellous characters and ingeniously intricate plots that have made her a small screen success.
The adaptations in this set feature some of the nation's greatest actors including Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Irene Richard, Tracey Childs, Bernard Hepton, Anna Massey, Angela Pleasence, Nicholas Farrell, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Samantha Bond, Doran Godwin, John Carson, Peter Firth, Googie Withers, Robert Hardy, Katherine Schlesinger, Amanda Root, Ciaran Hinds and many more
