‘Sexy’ idea sparked Colin Firth’s Pride and Prejudice, says Andrew Davies

Danielle HerbertBBC Wales andEleri GriffithsBBC WalesGetty ImagesAndrew Davies, from Cardiff, wrote the display adaption of Jane Austen’s Pleasure and Prejudice for the BBC in 1995The author of the BBC’s Pleasure and Prejudice adaptation starring Colin Firth says the thought got here from a former scholar who advised he make it “actually horny”.Written 30 years in the past by Cardiff-born Andrew Davies, the TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s basic novel turned a cultural phenomenon, attracting greater than 11 million viewers within the UK and tens of millions extra within the US.It received two BAFTAs and an Emmy, made Firth a star, and produced one in every of tv’s most-talked about scenes as Mr Darcy emerged from a lake in a moist shirt.Davies mentioned “it took years of perseverance and persuasion to get it on our screens” as a result of commissioners saying costume dramas “had gone fairly out of vogue”. Getty ImagesThe 1995 interval drama Pleasure and Prejudice starred Colin Firth as Mr Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth BennetDavies tailored Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pleasure and Prejudice right into a six-episode BBC sequence which aired in 1995.Set in Regency England, the story follows Elizabeth Bennet and her advanced relationship with the proud Mr Darcy, exploring love, class, and social expectations among the many lives of rich folks within the English countryside within the early nineteenth Century.Davies mentioned his former scholar Sue Birtwistle, who’s now a TV producer, mentioned to him “you and I ought to do a very horny adaptation of Pleasure and Prejudice”. “I knew precisely what she meant, it will be an adaptation that acknowledged that the plot of the story is about intercourse and cash when folks had the concept that Jane Austen was all about politeness, witty remarks and everybody buttoned as much as the neck,” he advised Radio Wales Breakfast.Davies defined how the critiques and press protection made it clear the present was “inflicting way more of a stir than most issues did”. “These had been the times earlier than ‘binge watching’ so episodes went out weekly so there was a way of a giant construct up.”An increasing number of folks had been speaking about it because the weeks went on,” he added.Colin Firth’s emergence from a lake within the position of Mr Darcy attracted a lot consideration on the timeSpeaking concerning the notorious lake scene, wherein Firth as Mr Darcy emerges wet-shirted and dripping from the lake of his nation property after an impromptu swim, Davies mentioned: “I by no means meant for that to be an attractive scene.”My pondering was all about giving an perception into Mr Darcy because the novel is written fully from Elizabeth’s viewpoint.”I meant for him to dive in bare initially however someway we misplaced that however we gained the moist shirt.”I assumed the viewers would see the scene as candy and comical,” Davies added.In response to Davies, Firth by no means escaped the affect of the position, though initially being “fairly uncomfortable taking part in a number one man and a romantic hero”. Regardless of this, Davies mentioned he “took on the position so nicely” and referred to as it an “extraordinary efficiency”.”I am completely thrilled that persons are nonetheless watching it,” he added.