Death Comes to Pemberley

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.

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.

Firstly, I hate fanfic. My teeth start grinding after a few paragraphs, even when it's written by PD James.

Secondly, if you're going to do anything with P&P you have to judge your two main casting decisions with a perfection required almost nowhere else. We all know Elizabeth and Darcy so well. So the producers of two productions which have dared to go off piste, Lost in Austen and this one, must have thought long and hard. Gemma Arterton did extremely well in Lost in Austen, a blend of period drama, summer RomCom and Dr Who, and Anna Maxwell Martin, as you might expect, is simply perfect here, in Austen meets the Poirot Christmas Special.

Anna gives us the mature Elizabeth, holding court at her more informal Pemberley, with an older Darcy who has recovered all his manly confidence in personal relationships and yet is even more deeply smitten. They have a son and are clearly wonderful parents. Both characters have changed in exactly the way Austen predicted in her last chapter. Elizabeth has risen in status and now wears the authority of Mistress of Pemberley, rationally softened, like its master. They are unusually sparkly together and very reminiscent of the Netherfield scenes. This is principally down to the extremely good performances from two actors and an their understanding of their characters which goes way beyond the script.

The whole cast is outstanding, the best in a period drama since Emma09 and the mystery is satisfyingly interesting. There's lots of clever 'dialogue' with the original and arch references to earlier productions (it's the 95 Pemberley).

What's not to like?

Can't wait for the next instalment, as Pemberley itself is challenged and their relationship is tested. I do hope the Bingleys, Caroline at least, turn up soon.

Of course, it isn't Austen. If it hurts to think that it is, then imagine it as a 100-year prequel to Downton Abbey, 10 times better acted and 50 times better written.

I've always been an Austen fan since I first read Pride and Prejudice at age 9. Since then I've read Pride and Prejudice in two different languages and my favorite adaptation of it is the BBC mini series in 1995. I tried to avoid the "when death comes to Pemberley" as long as possible since first I didn't want to spoil my fondness of the original book, and second the characters on the screen shots just mortifies me. I finally watched it and although the production is good, but like another viewer has mentioned, the script is anachronistic, as if someone is trying to write a Victorian time period drama but struggling with modern and even Hollywood terms. But this is not the worst of it, to me, the worst is the casting. This is a version with finally a handsome enough Wickham, but other main characters are just good actors with great voice performance and way too disappointing and falling far short for such iconic roles. Even supporting characters are rather odd choices, I had to re-watch some of it to understand what their positions, roles and characters in it. I'm sure it's not the worst portrait for Elizabeth and Darcy (and even colonel Fitzwilliam and Georgiana), but they sort of ruined it.