Death Comes to Pemberley

Okay I know this is a piece of fan fiction, and I did enjoy it. It does keep you guessing til the end and it's worth watching. But....

When you use well known and loved characters from something as famous as Pride and Prejudice, they should at least stay faithful to their original characters. Which it does, mostly, but the portrayal of Elizabeth Bennett was just really off. She's supposed to be beautiful, witty and fun loving, whilst perceptive. In this she comes across as a plain, almost miserable woman. I did not like this portrayal at all and it did ruin it for me a bit.

This would have been a good series if it had not appropriated Jane Austen's characters and settings. I was surprised at the casting of Darcy and Elizabeth, who were both dour and unattractive. The plot was interesting, but rather than being an homage to "Pride And Prejudice", which, like "Gone with the Wind", should remain intact and untouched by those with less imagination. The production was excellent, with beautiful costumes and sets, as always for British period dramas, but the leads playing the Darcy's were too old. Elizabeth looked like a worn out servant of at least 45, when Elizabeth Bennet would have been 27 at most, with wit and sparkle. They could not rise to the performances of Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, who will always be the only Darcy and Lizzy. And why is the beautiful Georgiana so much taller than her own brother, who looks nothing like her? The mystery was a competent one and the performances of the supporting actors well done. But it does no justice to Jane Austen. This series would have been much improved as a period murder mystery with completely fresh characters.

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.

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.

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.