Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV serial) Totally Explained

Everything about Pride And Prejudice 1995 Tv Serial totally explained

Pride and Prejudice is a 1995 British television drama serial, adapted in six episodes by Andrew Davies from Jane Austen's novel of the same name, originally published in 1813. Sue Birtwistle served as producer. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, respectively. The miniseries was produced by the BBC with co-funding from the Arts & Entertainment Network. The six fifty-five-minute episodes were originally screened on BBC One from 24 September to 29 October 1995, and, due to the huge popularity of the programme, were quickly repeated the following year. The miniseries had its American premiere on 14 January, 1996 on the A&E Network. The New York Times called both the novel and the adaption "a witty mix of love stories and social conniving, cleverly wrapped in the ambitions and illusions of a provincial gentry." Davies stated in an interview, "Sex is the engine of the plot in Pride and Prejudice. Darcy finds himself sexually attracted to Elizabeth before he even knows her. When he does get to know her, he doesn’t like her, but he still can’t keep away from her." The miniseries was produced by the BBC with co-funding from the Arts & Entertainment Network.

Costumes and design

With Pride and Prejudice being a period drama, more research went into design than for contemporary works. Like the chosen locations, the costumes should reflect the personality and wealth of the characters. As such, Caroline Bingley would avoid print dresses and wore big feathers in her hair. The actresses didn't wear obvious makeup or mascara. Three wigs were used for Elizabeth since Ehle's hair was blonde, and Ehle dyed her eyebrows brown.

Filming

100 days over a period of five months were scheduled to complete six hours of filming. Many of the shots of Elizabeth dancing with Darcy at the Netherfield Ball were unusable due to a hair being trapped in front of the camera lens. The last two scenes filmed were Mr Darcy's second proposal and Lady Catherine's confrontation with Elizabeth at Longbourn. The scene involved a very brief shot of the stuntman in midair; he was hired because of insurance issues against Weil's disease.
The serial was shot on Super 16, Sudbury Hall (Derbyshire) was used for the interior scenes. The following locations were also used:

Belton House, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, UK (Rosings)

Brocket Hall, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, UK (Netherfield ball room)

Edgcote Hall, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK (Netherfield interior and exterior)

Lacock, Wiltshire, England, UK (the village Meryton, exterior)

Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, Warwickshire, England, UK (London streets and coaching inn at night, exteriors)

Luckington Court, Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, UK (Longbourn interior and exterior)

Old Rectory, Teigh Oakham, Leicestershire, England, UK (Hunsford Parsonage) Oxfordshire, England, UK

Wiltshire, England, UK near, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK (Ramsgate exterior)

Music and dancing

Carl Davis wrote the theme music and the soundtrack, which was released on CD in 1995. Davis had been involved in writing scores for BBC adaptions of classic novels since the mid-1970s and approached Sue Birtwistle during pre-production. Davis's score aimed to communicate the wit and vitality of the novel and its theme of marriage and love. The inspiration for the music were smalltown music of the early 1800s, and contemporary music of the period, for example Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert. Choreographer Jane Gibson was also involved in selecting the music for dances. To allow for complete control over the sound, the music was pre-recorded in six hours by a set of up to eighteen musicians. The recorded music was than fed into tiny earpieces of the on-screen musicians, who mimed playing the instruments. The acresses who played the piano were offered teachers and given tapes of the pieces and sheet music to practice weeks ahead of filming, although Lucy Briers (Mary) and Emilia Fox (Georgiana) were already accomplished pianists. Among the songs and movements that played in the miniseries were Handel's "Air con Varizzioni" and "Slumber, Dear Maid" from his opera Xerxes, Mozart's "Rondo Alla Turca" and "Voi Che Sapete" and other music from his operas The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, Haydn's Pastoral Song for Voice and Keyboard (English Canzonettas 1, H.26a/27) "My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair", Schubert's "Die Allmacht", Beethoven's Andante Favori, the second movement from Muzio Clementi's Sonatina No.4, and "The Barley Mow".
With dancing as an integral part of social life and courtship in Austen's time, many key scenes in the book were set at dances or balls. At the end of the eighteenth century, the most common type of dance was folk dance, and many dances were focused on triple minors. The advantage and popularity of three couples dancing was that two couples danced while the third couple would stand still and had time to talk in private. Some fifteen separate dances were chosen, choreographed and rehearsed before filming began. Jane Gibson used a late eighteenth century book called The Apted Book of Country Dancing by Charles and Samuel Thompson for instruction, which included "The Shrewsbury Lasses", "A Trip to Highgate", and "Mr Beveridge's Maggot". Since the characters of Lydia and Kitty dance all the time, the actresses had to learn all fifteen dances over a three-day period. Although the dances at Meryton and Netherfield were similar, there was a difference in pace and style. The ball at Netherfield was filmed in three days and included the use of a steadicam.

Reception

Broadcast and releases

The six fifty-five-minute episodes, which originally screened on BBC One on Sunday evenings from 24 September to 29 October 1995, were watched by more than 13 million people in the United Kingdom. The miniseries was released on VHS in the UK in the week running up to the original transmission of the final episode, leading to a huge boost in sales due to many viewers wanting to find out the ending early, despite it already having been available for nearly two hundred years in book form. The entire initial run of 12,000 copies of the double-video set sold out within two hours of release, and 70,000 had been sold by the end of the first week of sales. Due to the huge popularity, the programme was quickly repeated the following year, earning a second Radio Times cover. The A&E Network premiered the miniseries in the Unites States in two-hour installments on three consecutive evenings beginning 14 January 1996. The serial has been released on DVD three times, initially in 2000, as a digitally remastered 'Tenth Anniversary Edition' in September 2005, and finally in April 2007 as part of a "Classic Drama DVD" Magazine Collection.

Critical reception

Gerald Gilbert, writing in The Independent newspaper, was enthusiastic in recommending the opening episode of the serial to his readers one day before the premiere. "As far as TV adaptations of literary classics go (which is usually about 50 per cent), this is probably as good as it gets. The casting in particular deserves a tilt at a BAFTA, Firth not being in the slightest bit soft and fluffy – and Jennifer Ehle showing the right brand of spirited intelligence as Elizabeth. Benjamin Withrow is shaping up to be a real scene-stealer with his Mr Bennet, but my jury is still out on Alison Steadman's Mrs Bennet as part panto-dame."
Reviewing the first episode for the same newspaper on the day after transmission, Jim White believed that the adaptation was superior to the original novel itself. "If you'd never read one of her books, you'd think it was no wonder Jane took sick: it must have been a lot more interesting being in bed than hanging around in that environment. Andrew Davies's take on Pride and Prejudice has changed all that, injecting into the proceedings a pace and energy which at last provides a visual setting to do justice to the wit of the book. With everyone slinging themselves about at high speed (the dances, in a first for the genre, actually involve a bit of sweat), it looks like people are doing something you'd never have suspected they did in Austen's time: having fun."
One day before the American premiere, John O'Connor of The New York Times, who considered Price and Prejudice "a witty mix of love stories and social conniving, cleverly wrapped in the ambitions and illusions of a provincial gentry," called the miniseries a "splendid adaptation, with a remarkably faithful and sensitively nuanced script". He however pointed out that the American audience might find the British production "a bit slow" at times.

Awards and nominations

Pride and Prejudice received BAFTA Television Award nominations for "Best Drama Serial", "Best Costume Design", and "Best Make Up/Hair" in 1996. Jennifer Ehle was honored with a BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actress", while Colin Firth's (Darcy) and Benjamin Whitrow's (Mr Bennet) nominations for "Best Actor" didn't result in a win. Firth however won the 1996 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for "Best Actor", complemented by the same award for "Best Drama Series/Serial". The miniseries was recognized in the United States with an Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special", and was nominated in the Emmy categories "Outstanding Miniseries" as well as for outstanding achievements in choreography, and writing. Among other awards and nominations, Pride and Prejudice received a Television Critics Association Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials" and a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Television Award for "Dramatised Serial", as well as a Golden Satellite Award nomination for "Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television".

Legacy

. Firth has stated his reluctance to accept the same role again. In 1996, Fielding published the column as a novel, in which she loosely reworked the plot of Pride And Prejudice. She named Bridget Jones' uptight love interest "Mark Darcy". In real life, Fielding arranged an interview with Colin Firth for a contrived (fictional) Q&A and included him in the editing process afterwards. Firth had read and enjoyed the column,
When the Daily Mirror compared all major adaptions of Pride and Prejudice between 1940 and 2005, only the 1995 BBC TV serial and the 2005 film received top marks of 9/10, leaving the other adaptions behind with ranges between 2/10 and 6/10. The article called the miniseries version "what may be the ultimate adaption", "destined to be forever remembered for that wet shirt.
In a 2000 poll of industry professionals conducted by the British Film Institute to find the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, Pride and Prejudice made the list at number 99. It was described on the BFI's website as "Managing to combine faithfulness to the novel with a freshness that appealed across the generations." The UK Film Council declared Pride and Prejudice one of the television dramas that have become "virtual brochures" for Britain's history and culture.Further Information

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