Jane Austen's Sanditon

The delights of Sanditon - as yet to come to the TV screen. 

How might this adaption pan out?

The Premise:

Charlotte Heywood, the captivating heroine of Sanditon, is smart, beautiful, and in search of a husband. As in all of Austen's novels, however, the road to matrimony is littered with obstacles: Charlotte must escape the clutches of an insufferable suitor, deal with the fortune-hunting schemes of the reigning local dowager, and outsmart a bevy of ambitious beauties who have set their sights on the charming Sidney Parker -- and convince the fickle young man that he really loves her.

CHAPTER I



A Gentleman and Lady travelling from Tunbridge towards that part of the Sussex coast which lies between Hastings and Eastbourne, being induced by Business to quit the high road, and attempt a very rough Lane, were overturned in toiling up its long ascent, half rock, half sand. The accident happened just beyond the only Gentleman's House near the Lane—a House, which their Driver on being first required to take that direction, had conceived to be necessarily their object, and had with most unwilling Looks been constrained to pass by. He had grumbled, and shaken his shoulders so much indeed, and pitied and cut his Horses so sharply, that he might have been open to the suspicion of o…

The Cast for Sanditon TV adaption:

Bonnie Adair		Felicity Lambe
Amy Burrows	...	Charlotte Heywood
Alice Osmanski	...	Letitia Beaumont
Lucy-Jane Quinlan	...	Clara Brereton
Barbara Rudall	...	Lady Denham

The final incomplete novel was written only months before Austen died in 1817, and has never been adapted before.

David Davies said the adaptation was a “privilege and a thrill” and will feature “a spirited young heroine, a couple of entrepreneurial brothers, some dodgy financial dealings, a West Indian heiress and quite a bit of nude bathing”.

When Austen died in July 1817, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were still to be published. But after her death, Sanditon surfaced. It has been described in the Guardian as being “notable for its unprecedentedly forthright treatment of sexuality”.

Polly Hill, head of drama at ITV, said: “There is no one better to adapt her unfinished novel than Andrew … it’s a rich, romantic, family saga built upon the foundations Jane Austen laid.”

Davies, who has previously worked on adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace and the forthcoming Les Misérables, said: “Jane Austen managed to write only a fragment of her last novel before she died – but what a fragment.” Austen completed 11 chapters of Sandition before her death.

Filming is expected to begin in spring 2019.

Original Manuscript: