ITV's new drama Sanditon is set to become another memorable adaptation of a Jane Austen novel – not least because it was tranformed for television by Andrew Davies, the BAFTA-winning screenwriter who also brought us sumptuous small-screen versions of War and Peace and Les Misérables. He also adapted Pride and Prejudice for the BBC in 1995, which became not only a hit but a cultural phenomenon, making a star of Colin Firth and his pond-soaked britches.
© Photo: ITVRose Williams plays Charlotte Heywood and Crystal Clarke is Georgiana Lambe
It remains to be seen whether Sanditon will have a hero as simultaneously infuriating and dashing as Mr Darcy, but one thing's for sure: the show has an enviable cast who are unlikely to struggle to bring the 19th-century story to life. The central role of Charlotte Heywood, an unconventional young woman who goes to stay in the seaside town of Sanditon and meets its equally unconventional residents, is played by Rose Williams, who previously starred in Reign.
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Her next role is also an adaptation: The Power, a horror film based on Naomi Alderman's prize-winning novel of the same name, which won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2017 Her love interest in Sanditon is Sidney Parker, played by Theo James from the Divergent series of movies. Anne Reid, who was recently seen in the BBC's popular apocalyptic drama Years and Years, plays wealthy aristocrat Lady Denham while Death in Paradise's Kris Marshall stars as Tom Parker, an eccentric local on a mission to turn Sanditon from a sleepy fishing town to a major destination.
© Photo: ITVAnne Reid takes on another iconic role as Lady Denham
You'll probably recognise a lot of the supporting cast, too. Look out for Crystal Clarke from Black Mirror as Georgiana Lambe, Riviera's Jack Fox as Lady Denham's nephew Sir Edward Denham, and Charlotte Spencer from Watership Down as her niece Esther, as well as Vanity Fair's Elizabeth Berrington as Mrs Griffiths and The Hollow Crown's Matthew Needham as Mr Crowe.
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Jane Austen's last novel, the author was working on Sanditon until her death in 1817. It wasn't published until 1925, when the title was changed from The Brothers.
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