Masterpiece Theatre tidbits- Emma 2009

There is a wealth of great reading and viewing on the PBS Masterpiece Theatre website, so I will explore this treasure trove in the next few weeks.

Every time Masterpiece airs a new miniseries, they create a great new page or pages on their website.  So you can even go back and look up older favorites like Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion or even Miss Marple in their Archive and see what they have.

One of their latest offerings, Emma 2009, has a great audio interview with Romola Garai, who plays the titular character.  She is natural and affectionate when she talks about the production and the other actors in this marvelous miniseries.  About 5 minutes long, it has lots of lovely photos from the production which are synchronized with her commentary.


There is also a wonderful Q & A session with screenplay writer Sandy Welch (who also adapted Our Mutual Friend and Jane Eyre for the BBC) where she reveals some of her thought process and inspiration for this project.  Very interesting and insightful.

If you have even more time to waste, try the Bachelors of Highbury Quiz to see if any of the single men in this production would be "right for you".  Silly but mildly amusing.

A bit more highbrow piece, entitled Reading, Writing and Emma.  This is authored by Dr. Gillian Dow, of the Chawton House Library and the University of Southampton in England.  It covers general topics such as how well read females were in the Regency era and specifics such as how Austen was regarded by some of her contemporaries.

There are also four Behind The Scenes videos, which are similar to the BBC You Tube clip below, but cover different topics.  These are very fun to watch.  From costumes to casting there are some wonderful snippets of interviews which just whet your whistle for more, so see my next post for the BBC version of a Behind The Scenes video.

Lastly, there are general Jane Austen links such as a short Biography, Selected Resources consisting of helpful links to mostly Austen related websites, and a Jane Austen House Slideshow, which shows some amazing photos of her beloved home in Chawton, Hampshire.  Lots to keep you busy for a while on the PBS Masterpiece website.