Sunday, 08 June
8.30pm

Persuasion, the second drama in ABC1's season of Jane Austen, is the story of Anne Elliot who, at the age of 27, is resigned to spinsterhood.

Eight years previously, Anne fell deeply in love with the handsome young naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, and became engaged to him. But with neither fortune nor rank to recommend him, Anne's conceited father - a baronet - and her well-meaning but class-conscious godmother persuaded her to break off the match.

When Wentworth returns from sea a rich and desirable captain, Anne can only look on in despair as every eligible young woman falls at his feet. Anne has never stopped loving him, but has Wentworth forgotten the girl he left behind? And can he ever forgive her for listening to her family instead of her heart?

Sally Hawkins (Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith) and Rupert Penry-Jones (Hilary and Jackie, Spooks, Cambridge Spies) are charismatic and convincing as two of Jane Austen's most complex characters, as they head a star-studded cast in this cinematic drama, adapted by Simon Burke (Sons and Lovers, White Teeth).
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rilliantly supported by a cast which includes Anthony Head (Little Britain, Manchild), Alice Krige (The Line of Beauty) and Stella Gonet (The House of Eliot), and filmed on location in Bath and Lyme Regis, Austen's last novel Persuasion is transformed into an acutely moving and sumptuously beautiful television production.