Death Comes to Pemberley

Had this pvr'd so didn't get to watch it until recently. The main characters were mis-cast. Rhys as Darcy just didn't work, but he would have made a great Wickham. Matthew Goode should have been cast as Darcy, and not as Wickham. And seriously, who would have thought to cast AMM as Lizzie? Her presence was paper-thin, and had difficulty carrying the role and the dialogue to make Lizzie spring to life and be the object of Darcy's adoration. And by the end of even the first episode, I was seriously tired of seeing her in the same, ugly blue dress. I was beginning to think it was the only one she owned until they came up with the same dress in episode two, but this time in green. And that little bolero jacket, and the pickle-barrel bonnet was just too much for me. For a woman of means, after 6 years of being married to a wealthy man and representing the estate, you would think she had more than two daytime dresses, that she wore everywhere. Did she get them at the church jumble sale or the bottom of the missionary barrel? And Rebecca Font as Mrs. Bennett? Really??? That was just too painful to watch.

Being a fan of PD James and Jane Austin I was looking forward to watching this show. It took a while to get past Elizabeth being totally out of character...at least from the stand point of Pride and Prejudice 1995 version. They dressed her down and made her look kind of dowdy and act miserable through most of the show. They didn't change the character of Darcy much--as my mother said, it looks like he has a toothache through most of the show. The colonel was also changed to be a rather secretive fellow, unlike his easy going character in P&P. The other characters seemed to mesh well with their original characters. If you have never seen Pride and Prejudice (1995 version) then you won't be disappointed. It is a good little English mystery.

I am sorry to disagree with the many fans of this. The dialogue is terribly anachronistic and a million miles from the style of Jane Austen. "Let's not overreact" from Darcy, for example, and worst of all from Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the world's most supercilious and conservative woman of her age, who says to Lizzie, "We need to talk". Need I say more?

I'm not an expert on legal procedures through the ages, but I strongly suspect that the court scenes were anachronistic, too. Others can probably give better information on this.

Also, I noticed very little chemistry between the Darcys, despite what some have claimed.

So many bad reviews that I'm surprised I watched it at all. I agree it was lacking in the costume department. Elizabeth seemed to wear the same dress or nearly the same one daily. A woman of her means should have better clothing. It also lacked in staff housing. No footman, not butler, not lady's maid. They're should have been a chef and a maid for the chef. All those maids in the kitchen should have been busy I'm the house. It wasn't true to the time. That aside I rather enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for period pieces. I loved seeing it all play out. I wanted more when it was all said and done.

I am a big P&P fan so I came to this series prepared to love it, although I wasn't a great fan of the book.

Could someone not have had a chat with BBC execs about age appropriate casting? Anna Maxwell Martin was a full ten years older than what Lizzie would have been at the time of the story (i.e. A few years after marrying Darcy at 21). She's a good actress but she definitely looks her age, so she can't play a girl in her mid-twenties. Added to this, she looks tired and dishevelled most of the film, as you'd expect a Dickens character to look, not the witty, happy and bubbly Elizabeth Bennet. It's a complete miscasting and honestly very distracting.

Darcy is also miscast - he is a bit more put together, but has the wrong countenance for Darcy, he does not come across as the imposing figure he is supposed to be.

Georgiana Darcy and Lydia Bennet are far better casting choices, they play their characters fairly well and most importantly look the part (and are the right age...). However Lydia is portrayed as fairly self-aware and certainly not the "silliest girl in Britain", Georgiana is far too relaxed and "modern" for the times.

Add to this some silly plot points, and it's a no from me. However much I enjoy Jane Austen adaptations, this one misses the mark.