Andrew Davies offered to adapt Emma for the BBC, but it had already commissioned Sandy Welch as screenwriter. Michael Wearing, BBC head of drama serials, stated "It was a very, very difficult situation. I had already commissioned Welch, one of our BBC writers, to do Emma. We really were in a fix." In response, Davies and his team successfully made an offer to BBC's rival, ITV. Pride and Prejudice (1995)'s entire production team reportedly joined Davies when he began adapting Emma (1996). It was his second adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. The production reportedly cost £2.5 million, and was shot during the summer of 1996.
Bernard Hepton (Mr Woodhouse) and Samantha Bond (Mrs Weston) previously played father and daughter, Sir Thomas and Maria Bertram, in another Jane Austen adaptation, Mansfield Park (1983).
Andrew Davies had recently made the successful television serial Pride and Prejudice (1995) starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth for the BBC when he proposed to adapt Emma for the corporation. The BBC, however, had already made such an agreement with another screenwriter, leading Davies to approach ITV.
Film critics have studied Emma (1996) for its depiction of class. Andrew Davies provides social context with fleeting scenes of the lower classes in a neutral, educational way --- unlike the earlier film Persuasion (1995), Emma does not encourage viewers to identify with the servants.
Emma (1996) received generally positive reviews from critics, many of whom believed it to be superior to the 1996 Miramax film. Most focused on Kate Beckinsale's performance as a positive highlight. It aired on ITV on November 24, 1996 and garnered an estimated 12 million viewers. It was broadcast on the American channel A&E on February 16,1997.