Pride and Prejudice (TV Mini-Series 1980) is a BBC production directed by Cyril Coke. It stars Elizabeth Garvie as Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Sabina Franklyn as Miss Jane Bennet, David Rintoul as Mr. Darcy, and Osmund Bullock as Mr. Bingley. Important supporting cast members are Moray Watson as Mr. Bennet, Priscilla Morgan as Mrs. Bennet, Irene Richard as Charlotte Lucas, who is married to the insufferable Mr. Collins (Malcolm Rennie). Peter Settelen portrays Mr. Wickham, a rogue in a gentleman's clothing, and Judy Parfitt plays the hateful Lady Catherine de Bourgh.Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a superb novel, that has been admired for over 200 years. Transferring it to the screen has been a challenge, because there are so many characters, who are key to the plot, and whom are related to each other in complex ways. The BBC mini-series is 265 minutes long. Even at that length, some characters are introduced briefly and then disappear from view. The 1995 BBC mini-series is 327 minutes long. It will be interesting to see whether the extra hour will allow more character development. Possibly the extra hour will just be used to show off the wonderful BBC production capabilities.If you're familiar with the novel, I think you'll be pleased by the actors and the interpretation of the characters as decided by director Coke. The only character with whom I found a problem was Mr. Bennet. Yes--he's a curmudgeon, but we see him as a rather harsh curmudgeon. I don't think Jane Austen thought of him in that way.If you're not familiar with the novel, you might find it helpful to read the novel, or at least read a synopsis of the novel, so you can keep the characters straight.We saw this movie on the small screen (in a VHS version!) and it worked well enough. Of course, it was made for TV, so it should work on a small screen. Still, if you ever have the opportunity to see it in a theater, I'd take that opportunity. It's a good, solid depiction of a great novel. This BBC Pride and Prejudice is definitely worth seeing.

This early BBC mini-series of "Pride and Prejudice" is the first production to flesh out most of the significant characters of Jane Austen's novel. Of course, it needed the nearly 4 ½ hours to do that. The production values are very good. The scenery and filming are excellent. The cast is very capable, but only a couple of the performances seem exceptional. Those would be Sabina Franklyn as Jane Bennett and Judy Parfitt as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Irene Richard also was quite good as Charlotte Lucas. David Rintoul made a striking figure for Fitzwilliam Darcy. But, in his transformation at the end, his character still seemed to be dour. There was no apparent warming and enthusiasm with his love for Elizabeth. Elizabeth Garvie is good as Elizabeth, but I think her character was too uncertain at times. She sometimes seemed wishy-washy. Whether this was from her interpretation of the role, or the director's lead, it seemed to weaken the character. I don't think that's the image of Elizabeth that Austen had in mind. Overall, I just didn't sense much life or enthusiasm in the characters. Before this 1980 mini-series, the BBC had made three other mini-series of P&P — in 1952, 1958 and 1967. But those were all in the 3-hour range, with 30-minute installments. They barely touched on some of the characters. The interest has been there for Jane Austen since at least the last half of the 20th century. So at intervals the BBC would put out a new production. Yet, none seemed to improve on the story. By that I mean, succeeding versions didn't add much more from the story than the earlier ones. And no exceptional stars or role insights emerged. So, the preferred version for many movie buffs over four decades was likely the 1940 film with its cast of big name stars – Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edmund Gwenn, and Edna May Oliver. But, with the 1980 mini-series, we had the first flushing out of characters that were ignored or barely mentioned in the movies and shorter series. While it's not a particularly exciting rendition, the 1980 mini-series production is a good wholesome treatment of Austen's great novel of pride and prejudice. And, it would retain the foremost position of P&P films until 1995 and the last great mini-series on the story. A word to the wise – for those who may want to acquire or watch all the various versions of Pride and Prejudice. Watch this 1980 mini-series version before you watch the 1995 version. The difference will become pleasantly clear when watching the second series. To do it in reverse invites awareness of the differences that will be not so pleasant and may even lead to uneasiness or lack of interest when watching this series last.

I have had a soft spot for this version ever since I saw it when I lived in Canada. Eventually I acquired the NTSC VHS version while in Canada, and it has stayed with me when I had a residence in France and later in UK. Colin Firth was somewhat softer and more plausible than David Rintoul in some scenes but the wet shirt scene was nonsensical and Jennifer Ehle unbelievable as Elizabeth. In despair at finding a region 2 DVD I hung onto the VHS until it and my player were well worn out.Luckily I recently found a Dutch DVD Region 2 version available from Amazon, so can enjoy it again in better picture quality. Highlights are the superb Mr Collins and his wife Charlotte in addition to the leads. Fay Weldon does take a liberty moving some of Mr Bennet's best lines to Mrs Bennett but no major harm done.To my mind one of the all time great moments in TV or Cinema is the camera work as Elizabeth reads the letter handed to her by D'Arcy. As she reads the letter justifying his arrogant and insulting first proposal of marriage and distancing himself from her, the camera crosscuts to the ever increasing distance as he walks away. Meanwhile Elizabeth begins to have a glimmer of understanding of his character. A case of special harmony between the visual images and the interior emotions of the characters.One other note. The region 2 DVD issued by BBC Worldwide has English soundtrack but the only subtitles are Dutch. A curious case of both racial and disability discrimination against English speaking people who are hard of hearing. I hope such customers claim damages from the overpaid managers of the organization.

Not as great as the 1995 masterpiece, (starring Colin Firth as in one of his many Darcy roles to come!)but a faithful and engaging version of Jane Austin's tale of female character, primogeniture, and money as a motivator. The story focuses on five unmarried girls, in particular the second-eldest, in turn-of-the-19th century England. Elizabeth Garvie portrays this spirited but sensible girl in contrast to her sisters who are Sweet but Boring (Jane), Bookish and Plain (Mary), Pretty yet Scheming (Lydia), Lovely but Whinging (Kitty). Elizabeth is her judicious father's favorite. It is eventually clear that her mother, favors the eldest (Jane) on a societal level, but seems to identify most with and take the part of the pretty and scheming Lydia. The tale surrounds the mother's attempts to get the respectable and penniless girls married off as soon as possible. Her mother's (priscilla Morgan as Mrs. Bennet)non-stop nattering about her nerves is deliciously keyed to drive any sane man to drink and any respectable girl to roll her eyes in utter mortification. Natalie Ogle as Lydia captures the conceit and naive enthusiasm of a 15-year-old girl who is in over her head and still charging into the deeper water. Malcome Rennie as the daft Mr. Collins (cousin to the five girls and the male heir to the entire family estate upon their father's death) is unparalleled at guilelessly delivering the Left Handed Compliment (''Do not make yourself uneasy, my dear cousin, about your apparel. Lady Catherine is far from requiring that elegance of dress in us, which becomes herself and daughter."). His imperious patroness, Lady Catherine de Burgh, is forcefully played by Judy Parfitt. The brooding Darcy character (David Rintoul) is a difficult role to convey due to the pervasive call for stiff formality and a concealment of feelings. However, there should be a forcefulness to the man as he is eventually revealed to be powerful and respected. It is difficult to ascertain whether this actor was led astray by the director's calls for a flat brooding portrayal, or the actor was not able to evince the minuscule nuances that must be dragged out of this role. The joy of this story, when well told is that it is romantic and funny, but also serves as a reminder of how restricted both men and women were to their societal roles by the nature of property and finances at the time. It demonstrates how the manner in which money moves in a society influences greatly how that society must behave. By example, since reputation is an important factor in this highly networked community, a girl with no dowry and a tainted reputation is devastating to both herself AND the her entire family, since there is no anonymity in the vastly cooperative English countryside. Overall, an unglossy, but satisfying and faithful production of an enjoyable classic.