Lost In Austen

Sunday, 15 March at 08:30pm on ABC1

In the final episode of Lost In Austen Mrs Bennet (Alex Kingston) ejects Amanda (Jemima Rooper) from Longbourn which prompts Wickham (Tom Riley) to prepare her for society.

Meanwhile, Mr Bingley is so heartbroken by Jane’s marriage to Mr Collins that he has taken to befriending Wickham, and drinking heavily.

Later, Amanda and Darcy fall mutually in love, but after Caroline’s (Christina Cole) meddling, Amanda reveals to Darcy that she has already lost her virginity. Darcy retreats from his plans to marry her, angering Amanda so much that she rips out the pages of her Pride and Prejudice book and throws it out the window.

Just as Darcy announces his engagement to Bingley’s sister Caroline, Mrs Bennet receives a note of Lydia’s (Perdita Weeks) elopement with Mr Bingley. They find Lydia and Mr Bingley hiding at a local inn in Hammersmith. An enraged Mr Bennet (Hugh Bonneville) attacks Bingley, whose self-defence causes Mr Bennet’s head to crack open.

Amanda fears for Mr Bennet’s life and bursts out of a door, finding herself in modern-day London. Amanda’s old boyfriend drives her to Elizabeth’s new working place as a nanny, and on the way, Amanda spots Darcy in the crowd, claiming he followed her for love. Elizabeth has thoroughly embraced modern life and is shocked to meet Darcy (as she is aware of the novel). Amanda hurries them back to her bathroom and the portal to Longbourn.

Mr Bennet returns home to make a full recovery and is reunited with his daughter, while Darcy regards his experience in modern London as a dream. Lady Catherine (Lindsay Duncan) arrives at Longbourn and bargains for Amanda’s disappearance from society by annulling Jane’s marriage to Mr Collins on the grounds of non-consummation.

Will Jane and Bingley be able to leave their past behind and start a new life? And what will become of Amanda and Darcy’s relationship now that Elizabeth is back?

Sunday, 8 March at 8:30pm  on ABC1

A thoroughly modern heroine threatens to ruin one of the world’s greatest literary love stories in this ingenious reinvention of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Hollywood actress Alex Kingston (ER; Croupier; Moll Flanders) stars alongside an acclaimed cast, including Hugh Bonneville (Notting Hill; Iris), Lindsay Duncan (Rome; Longford) and new Bond girl Gemma Arterton (St. Trinians; Quantum Of Solace).

Bored bank worker Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper – The Black Dahlia; As If; Hex) likes to escape from her unremarkable life and unromantic boyfriend by losing herself in the pages of period novel, Pride and Prejudice.  Yet, by a strange accident she literally becomes lost in her favourite Austen book, after she finds a strange portal in her bathroom and swaps places with

its heroine Elizabeth Bennet (Gemma Arterton).

Amanda’s journey begins right at the start of the tale, and as she gets to know the Bennet family, she encounters the famous Mr Darcy (Elliot Cowan – The Golden Compass; Alexander), and struggles to adjust to polite Regency society. Unwittingly, she also begins to change the book’s familiar plot, and with Darcy’s true love stuck in Amanda’s 21st century flat, how can she keep this celebrated romance on track?