Guest blogger

December 11, 2007

Hi there,

While I’m working, I’m welcoming a guest blogger today and she is Ms Bennet and has free rein.

One of the most popular games in our house – from long before Decent Exposure was published, when the idea of selling film rights to anyone (let alone Fox TV!) was total pie-in-the-sky – is fantasy film casting. We would rip up magazines for pictures of people who looked as we imagined the characters to look, and we’d be in the cinema, or watching TV, and suddenly grab each other and say “That’s Will!” or “Look, it’s Nick” (who’ll you’ll meet in JSY). Now that there’s a possibility of DE making it onto the small screen, I’ve been looking for possible Wills and Emmas from the other side of the pond, and I think someone like Dylan Neal (who, while Canadian, has also been in a lot of US television) might fit the bill. About Will’s age and height, nice broad shoulders, does “brooding” rather well…

Of course, some lucky people actually do get to indulge their fantasy casting. There’s a new Andrew Davies adaptation of Sense and Sensibility on the BBC on New Year’s Day (and I understand it’s going to be shown in the USA in the spring); and they’ve gone for a slightly younger cast than the Emma Thompson version – which, incidentally, I love, and I’m not sure how it can be bettered – including a relative newcomer called Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars. It looks like they’re hoping for a new Darcy, and with publicity stills like this one floating around, they might well be on to something!

You might recognise his as the syphilitic Arthur, Lord Holmwood in the slightly (well, very) odd BBC version of Dracula last Christmas. He should be in good company with Dominic Cooper (of The History Boys) as Willoughby, although I may take some convincing about David Morrissey as Colonel Brandon. Along with JJ Feild reprising the role of Fred Garland in The Shadow in the North, Christmas and New Year are positively bursting with literary eye-candy!

Comments

1. On December 11th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
   Debs Says:
   

   I love Emma Thompson’s Sense & Sensibility so will look forward to this one and see what it’s like. At least it means there is something interesting to look forward to rather than the usual repeats!

2. On December 12th, 2007 at 7:41 am
   Phillipa Says:
   

   Edward definitely looks very promising… and I think that Miss Austen Regrets is also going to be on TV over Christmas too.