I'm not, by any means, a Jane Austen "purest" but I thoroughly enjoyed this adaptation. THOROUGHLY.And I'll tell you why:First off, the dialog was top notch--Amanda's sliding into the dialect slowly was delightful! I have watched "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudiced" many many times (and no, I don't have 37 cats, okay?). I am not, what I would consider, a Jane Austen "fan" but I do enjoy a good story.Like Amanda, I believe there are people that long for a time when the Golden Rule and manners mattered. I found this adaptation to be quite delightful and have added it to my repertoire of things to watch when I've pretty much given up on humanity.Also like to add that the costumes were far more believable than the other "Austen" inspired movies--the one with Keira Knitghley (they didn't HAVE "calico" print in those days. Seriously. Hire a HISTORIAN before you do a movie, sheesh!) sorry, but the mass printing of fabric may have been invented, but it was extremely expensive and the girls in the Knightly version were wearing this wonderful calico prints to CLEAN THE HOUSE???? Did not happen. And I was impressed with the production, the historic context and yeah, the acting. I laughed when I was supposed to laugh (chalk and twigs to brush your teeth? Seriously??? LOL!). And the fact that one of the first things Amanda did when she got back to "civilization" was brush her teeth! Loved it!I'm not going to apologize for really loving this film and as far as I'm concerned, this was a "10."Favorite lines:Michael: "Darcy's some ponce in a book. A toger-twitching nancy boy'"Darcy: "What is this curious person? The village idiot?" (OMG, lol).e Amanda to Wickham: "You hear that sound,George? It's Jane Austen spinning in her grave like a cat in a tumble dryer!"And my personal favorite:Bickley (to Darcy): "Damn you. Damn you and everyone that won't put a light in his window and and stay up all night damning you!" Pure delightful escapism! If I could rate it higher than a "10" I would! Bravo!

I regret watching this show. If it weren't for curiosity I'd never have ! Except for a few scenes which I found funny; the whole series was abominably lame !! The idea of the this series was a great one, the execution however was poor. The characters just weren't themselves. The acting was okay-ish especially the woman who played Mrs. Bennet was so annoying. Bingley felt more like a pervert than a gentleman especially in the beginning and later on becomes a drunkard.Amanda, who is shown to be such a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice; claims to know everything of it by heart and loves what its all about, doesn't know how to behave once she gets inside it. And why in the world do Mr. and Mrs. Bennet believe her so easily and let her stay at their house ? Heck, they believe every stupid excuse she tells them. And it just wasn't explainable why everyone kept falling for Amanda !! I found her highly intolerable. I'm sure its a dream of every P&P fan to go inside it but I can bet no one would have behaved as stupidly as she does. And as if it wasn't painful enough having to watch her idiocy, we are then given the suffering of having to watch every man in the story fall for her. I'd expected so much more from LIA. It was a letdown, the ending to be specific, I wouldn't have mind seeing Mr. Darcy with any other woman if she'd been likable. I'd much rather Amanda has settled everything back to normal and returned to her place for good !Shameful. Its a pity I had to see this.. thing. Poor Jane Austen.

Coin Furth is just a guy who plays Mr. Darcy but Elliot Cowan becomes the real Mr Darcy who doesn't know he is a character in a book that will one day become Pride and Prejudice. He managed to make me sympathetic even though with the balance of the events mixed up the reasons Mr. Darcy goes from being a unsympathetic to sympathetic character are kind of gone. The concept is cool and I think the casting was spot on but I think that the redemption doesn't really happen. In the end it's just entertainment but it's fun, and Amanda is like most women who deserve to find their own Mr Darcy rather than marry someone who doesn't love them.

I am not necessarily a devout "purist". I don't get upset when a plot line or character is completely changed, but I do like it when an adaptation makes an effort to stick to the spirit. This series is not an adaptation strictly speaking, but there is a lot of Austen that is essential to the pivotal story. I will admit I was very intrigued by Lost in Austen and its idea, but apart from the wonderful production values and the performances of Hugh Bonneville and Alex Kingston, Lost in Austen didn't live up to its excellent concept. The writing is stilted apart from one or two amusing moments, some of the series felt rushed and the story is muddled, underdeveloped and contradictory(look to the ending for any example of this). Another major problem is Amanda, there were times when she was unforgivably stupid, and while it was lovely to see the Austen characters for me little was done to make me properly care for them. Jemima Rooper tries hard, but I found her unconvincing overall, and Elliot Cowan overdoes it. All in all, didn't work for me I'm afraid. 2/10 Bethany Cox