Miss Austen Premieres on BBC One in the UK — My First Impressions

From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:  

Jane Austen and period drama fans take heed. Miss Austen, the new 4-part TV drama adapted from Gill Hornby’s eponymous bestselling novel, premiered in the UK last weekend. UK residents can view it on BBC One and their iPlayer. Its US premiere will be on Masterpiece PBS on May 4th.

Starring Keeley Hawes as Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra, the series follows her search for private letters that could ruin Jane’s legacy. Rose Leslie and Patsy Ferran also star. Here is a trailer from PBS:

ABOUT THE STORY FROM THE SCREENWRITER

“Miss Austen is a beautiful story about the love between two sisters, Jane Austen – one of our most revered and brilliant novelists – and her sister Cassandra. Very little is known about Cassandra, who figured hugely in Jane’s life. What Gill Hornby has done in her amazing book that we’ve adapted, is pull together all of the historical facts that we have about Jane and her family set-up, and fashion it into this story of the bond between those two sisters and their importance to each other.

The main thrust of the story takes place after Jane has died, when Cassandra goes back to a place that was very important in their lives – Kintbury – the home of the Fowle family. Cassandra returns to retrieve some letters of Jane’s before the house is turned over. When Cassandra finds these letters, she feels the need to protect her sister due to the outpouring of honesty and rawness within them. This takes us back in time into all these episodes in Jane and Cassandra’s past where we see their romances, Jane becoming a novelist and their lovely family.”— Andrea Gibb

Jane Austen (Patsy Ferran) and Cassandra Austen (Synnøve Karlsen)

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Having read Hornby’s 2020 novel, I was uncertain if I would also enjoy its transition to the screen.

The story moves back and forth between several decades starting in 1830 with Cassandra Austen’s rush to the Fowle residence in Kintbury in search of Jane’s letters there sparking her memories of her romance with Tom Fowle, to the Austen family’s summer trip to the seaside at Sidmouth in 1801, and many more scenes revealing (and fictionally answering) the literary mystery of why Cassandra burned so many of her sister Jane’s personal correspondence after Jane’s death in 1817.

Henry Hobday (Max Irons) and Cassandra Austen (Synnøve Karlsen) stroll the Sidmouth shore in 1801.

In a successful period drama, the production values, actors, and costumes are always paramount in the success of the story. I give high praise for the choice of actors and their performances, not so much for the dark lighting and depressing tone that lay like a dark fog over the visual impact. What elevated my first impression? The story is closely based on the known facts & events in Cassandra and Jane’s lives and only diverges into fiction a few times. We see a very complex relationship between the sisters, and an enlightening interpretation of Jane as a focused writer who is at times both fallible and fabulous.

Miss Austen is also a moving tribute to the Austen sisters relationship involving love, loss, and legacy.

Jane Austen (Patsy Ferran), Eliza Fowle (Madeleine Walker), Cassandra Austen (Synnøve Karlsen), and Mary Lloyd (Liv Hill). 

I will be writing more extensively about Miss Austen when it premieres in the US on Masterpiece PBS in May.

Until then, my fellow US Jane Austen and period drama fans, hang tight. It will be worth the wait.

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CAST

• Cassandra Austen: Keeley Hawes (older)
• Casandra Austen: Synnøve Karlsen (younger)
• Jane Austen: Patsy Ferran
• Mary Austen: Jessica Hynes (older)
• Mary Austen: Liv Hill (younger)
• Isabella Fowle: Rose Leslie
• Mrs. Austen: Phyllis Logan
• George Austen: Kevin McNally
• Tom Fowle: Calam Lynch
• Mr. Lidderdale: Alfred Enoch
• Henry Hobday: Max Irons
• Dinah: Mirren Mack

Casandra Austen (Synnøve Karlsen), Mrs. Austen (Phyllis Logon), and Jane Austen (Patsy Ferran). 

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MISS AUSTEN ON BBC | MISS AUSTEN ON PBS | MISS AUSTEN THE NOVEL

We viewed the TV drama via the producer PBS. Text Laurel Ann Nattress © 2025, austenprose.com, an Amazon affiliate. No AI: material on Austenprose.com may not be used in datasets for, in the development of, or as inputs to generative AI programs.

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