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'Lost In Austen [2008]' starring Jemima Rooper and directed by Dan Zeff. (StaEAN 5037115282132)

I watched the first few series on ITV and couldn't wait for the rest of the episode. It was humorous and still told the P&P story except you can imagine yourself in the story. Fantastic stuff

I orginally watched this when it was first shown on ITV1 and it had me hooked. While I didn't think it was amazing it's still a good piece of period drama with the twist of someone from our world thrown into the mix. I've never read Pride and Prejudice or any Austen novel, so I can't say how a hardcore fan reacted to this.

Disc 1 - Episodes 1 & 2: We are introduced to Amanda's disillusioned life in London and then how she enters Austen's 'real' fictional world of Pride and Prejudice. Obviously, things don't go to plan and stray from how they should be.

Disc 2 - Episodes 3 & 4 Plus Extras: Things seem to be looking up for our herione in Ep 3 but how long does this happiness last?
The last episode tries to wrap up things with the conclusion where Amanda is faced with an ultimatum. Does it all end happily for her and the other characters?

The acting side, Bonneville stands out with all the best witty lines and and a certain flair and gravitas he brings to his role. The rest, including Jemima are all good but he gets a special mention from me.

Cinematography wise, it's warmly lit and has lovely scenery of Yorkshire I think. I wish there was more of how life was in the early 18th century, more of Lizzy's life adjusting to modern day life in London and it's a bit predictable really. Amaiable fluff to me but nothing great. The music's got a main theme with nice strings and a floaty of not complately original tune.
Overall, for the mini series gets: 7/10

DVD Extras: Behind the Scenes: If when the last Ep 4 was shown on ITV1 you did what I did and turned over to ITV3 to watch the behind the scenes doc this is that exact same thing.
It's a 42 min technical doc showing a bit more of the work that went into finding locations, decorating sets, snd how to organise a particular scene involving a cold pond ...
There are some few brief info some of the actors give about their experiences but these aren't at a sufficient length to be insightful enough to me.
I would've liked some deleted scenes, proper in-depth interviews and maybe a commentary. This one extra only rates fair for me - 5/10.

Note: The DVD picture quality is quite grainy from maybe a suspected 'noisy transfer', which is surprising as it came out this year, and I'm used to a sharp, clear picture on DVD as a standard(I don't have the money at the mo to upgrade to HD TV and Blu-Ray like what it seems, everyone else seems to be doing ...).
Also it says on the back 'Certain scenes in this DVD version have been edited or deleted for copyright reasons' so the scene with Amanda singing Downtown has been cut, so that scene doesn't make sense unless you remember watching the original broadcast on ITV1. It's annoying really.

I bought this after watching the ITV showing with my other half. He even enjoyed following the twists to this story. Whilst Colin Firth still is the ultimate Darcy all the characters were really well portraited.

I would recommend this to anyone, it doesn't ruin the story and moves at a respectable pace. A lovely feel good factor in this gloomy time, good to see something light hearted and well acted.

I wanted to like this; a lot, but I didn't, I didn't hate it either. It left me completely unmoved and bored enough to have missed it if I hadn't pre-programmed it to be Sky+'d. I hated the idea: There are so many brilliant Regency books out there crying to be adapted -Georgette Heyer for one, not to mention the whole Pantheon of Signet and St Martins Press for others, with Millions of readers. It's plain lazy to re-adapted P&P. Plus all the wonderful sequels and alternative points of views offered by authors like Susan Kaye and Amanda Grange.

This was adequate I suppose, but not good enough to tempt me. I found the settings gorgeous and the detail great (but what AWFUL hair!) but credulity stretched and I was bored, bored, bored by the story and the inconsistencies of how modern day appearances were kept up without make up or GHD's! Great Mr Bennett, but i was irritated by their making Darcy a parody of himself.

Having just sat through a rant from a friend who loved it, but who is majorly disappointed by the crucial singing scene gone astray in the DVD edition (she says- I don't recall- obviously as memorable as the whole production) I've lopped off a star and given it 2*

It's not Austen, it's not even close, it's not even clever. It is great on Regency detail, but lacking in Regency authenticity, manners and reactions and you really have to suspend belief if you want to get into it I guess, but I simply didn't care one way or the other. To be frank I thought what a waste of resources.

Oh and adding Gemma Arterton's name to the titles, as she's the 'It girl' of the moment, is like saying she's a major Bond Girl in Quantum of Solace. She gets maybe 10 minutes screen time over all- about 8 minutes more than she does in Quantum of Solace.

You may say I was motivated to write this review, but I wasn't until I had that rant from my friend who was really upset that the integrity couldn't be kept from screen to DVD -that's poor and disappointing for those who loved it, but how much they loved it if so many of the reviewers here failed to notice it, I'm not too sure.

As a lover of all things Jane Austen and particularly P&P. I thought Lost In Austen was very clever and hilarious. It is not to be taken seriously of course. So many parts made me cringe, in a funny way. There are so many notable actors playing their parts perfectly. Elliot Cowan smoulders as Darcy. Jemima is gawky and sweet as Amanda. I love Wickham in this one too.
Really worth a watch. I've seen it numerous times already and still laugh when I see it again.