This past week, January 28, was the anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in 1813. So happy 209th birthday!

It’s a beloved book of many readers and it made me wonder how many times it has been adapted onto the small and large screens. I’ll watch any version that I stumble upon… which means I’ve seen some real corkers (sorry, Unleashing Mr. Darcy).

What follows is perhaps a definitive list, with a few extras that some call adaptations but I think merely borrow the names or weave in the characters or themes from Pride and Prejudice. For the sake of brevity, I’ll list the title, year, screen, and actors who played Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. If possible, I’ll include a graphic or, if we’re especially fortunate, a clip.

I’ve likely missed a few, or even quite possibly blocked some I’ve seen from my memory ~~out of sheer survival instinct~~. Feel free to add to the list in the comments!

Talesman

As, I tell you my Tale, and my Talesman, or Author.

The (mostly, they thought) Direct Adaptations

Pride and Prejudice, 1938, television movie, Andrew Osborn and Curwigen Lewis

Pride and Prejudice, 1940, movie, Sir Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson

Pride and Prejudice, 1949, episode from NBC television series The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, John Baragrey and Madge Evans

Pride and Prejudice, 1952, television miniseries, Peter Cushing and Daphne Slater (Grand Moff Tarkin as Mr. Darcy?!)

Pride and Prejudice, 1958, television series, Alan Badel and Jane Downs

Pride and Prejudice, 1967, television series, Lewis Fiander and Celia Bannerman

Pride and Prejudice, 1980, BBC miniseries, David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie

Pride and Prejudice, 1995, television miniseries, Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle

Furst Impressions, 1996, episode from the PBS television series Wishbone, Larry Brantley (Wishbone, as Darcy) and Dee Hennigan

Bridget Jones’s Diary, 2001, movie, Colin Firth and Renée Zellweger

Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy, 2004, movie, Orlando Seale and Kam Heskin

Bride and Prejudice, 2004, movie, Martin Henderson and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Pride and Prejudice, 2005, movie, Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightley

Lost in Austen, 2008, television miniseries, Elliot Cowan and Jemima Rooper

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, 2012-13, YouTube, Daniel Vincent Gordh and Ashley Clements

Austenland, 2013, movie, JJ Feild and Keri Russell

Unleashing Mr. Darcy, 2016, television movie, Ryan Paevey and Cindy Busby

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, 2016, movie, Sam Riley and Lily James

Pride and Prejudice: Atlanta, 2019, movie, Juan Antonio and Tiffany Hines

Long live Pride and Prejudice adaptations!

Slang term taken from Cant: A Gentleman’s Guide.

I’m sure they were told it couldn’t – or shouldn’t – be done (hence the tongue-in-check Word of the Week) . . . and look at them now. As a writer, I can totally identify and empathize. I hear contradictory advice all the time (“write what you know,” then “write your dreams and fantastical thoughts;” “don’t edit as you go,” then “don’t let your mistakes get too out of hand as you write,” etc., etc.).

This week, as we X more squares on our calendars of confinement, might I suggest a dive into the world of YouTube Jane Austen web series? None of them are new. It’s likely you’ve seen many, if not all of them. But just in case you haven’t, for your delectation, in no particular order . . .

You’re welcome.

Windmills in the Head

Foolish projects.

Pride and Prejudice

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

“My year long video diary of my sisters, my best friend Charlotte, and eventually a guy named Darcy.”

Emma

“Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse is reimagined as a young lifestyle coach and matchmaking entrepreneur.”

Sense and Sensibility

Project Dashwood

“Teen vlogger Margaret Dashwood documents a year in the life of her family.”

Elinor and Marianne Take Barton

“Updating the action to a modern-day university, ‘Elinor and Marianne Take Barton’ explores the highs and lows of being young, (relatively) independent and dealing with friends, family and boys. As well as the video diary of Marianne Dashwood, the series follows the other characters through social media and Tumblr blogs.”

Mansfield Park

From Mansfield With Love

“From Mansfield With Love follows the life of Frankie Price as she posts a series of vlog letters detailing the ups and downs of life at Mansfield Park.”

Northanger Abbey

Northbound

“Join Catherine Morland as she chronicles the perils of young adulthood and her many (mis)adventures through her vlogs on YouTube.”

The Cate Morland Chronicles

“Cate Morland, a recent journalism graduate who is obsessed with fan culture, particularly of the short-lived cult series The Mysteries of Udolpho, finds her new job at an LA entertainment magazine puts her in contact with many different people in the pop culture sphere, but none more exciting than Henry Tilney, the former star of The Mysteries of Udolpho himself…”

Sanditon

Welcome to Sanditon

“Welcome to Sanditon relocates the action from the English seaside to a California beach town, and replaces the novel’s protagonist with LBD’s [Lizzie Bennet Diaries} Gigi Darcy. Gigi has come to Sanditon, CA to run a beta demo of the Pemberley Digital Domino application. The residents of Sanditon have all been invited to join in the test, and discover how this “life-revealing” app performs.”

All-Purpose Jane Austen

The Jane Games

“A web series in which Jane Austen and her characters abandon pride and good sense to compete on a modern day reality show.”

Persuasion did have two web series that I watched, albeit a couple of years ago, that have since disappeared entirely. Just in case my search skills failed me, their titles were The Elliots and Anne Elliot (although this last one petered out after four episodes; I kept hoping the actress would do more because it was a promising series).

Bonus Entry

I am no fan of anything bearing the name Brontë, so it took me by surprise that I really enjoyed the web series based on Jane Eyre. Maybe it was far enough removed from the source material, and true aficionados will not be so approving.

The Autobiography of Jane Eyre