The much-anticipated new ITV drama Sanditon, based on Jane Austen's unfinished novel, will air this autumn, and on Monday night, the first trailer has been released. The eight-part drama stars Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood, who moves from her country home to the fishing village of Sanditon. Her love interest Sidney Parker is played by Theo James, while Kris Marshall plays Tom Parker – an enthusiastic man determined to put Sanditon on the map, while the town's powerful Lady Denham is played by Anne Reid. Although the trailer doesn't specify when the film will be released, it looks like there's plenty of highs and lows for Charlotte as she gets to know more about her new hometown and the people in it.
Watch the trailer for Sanditon
The period drama has been adapted by Emmy and BAFTA-wining screenwriter Andrew Davies, who has bought to life Jane Austen's 11-chapter book. Jane wrote the novel just months before her death in 1817, and she never got to finish it. The novel tells the story of the impulsive, spirited and unconventional Charlotte, and her turbulent relationship with the charming, and slightly wild, Sidney. When a chance accident transports Charlotte from her rural hometown of Willingden to Sanditon, it exposes her to a whole new world. With Sanditon aspiring to be a new seaside town, it relies on many wealthy characters to help make it a commercial success, which results in many twists and turns in the plot.
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Charlotte Heywood moves to Sanditon where her life changes forever
MORE: First look at ITV's Sanditon
Speaking about the show, ITV's head of drama, Polly Hill, said: "It's a rich, romantic, family saga built upon the foundations Jane Austen laid. There is no one better to adapt her unfinished novel than Andrew [Davies] who has an incredible track record for bold and original adaptations." Andrew, who wrote the TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth, added: "Jane Austen managed to write only a fragment of her last novel before she died - but what a fragment... It's been a privilege and a thrill for me to develop Sanditon into a TV drama for a modern audience."
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