Skip to content
Sanditon is the final, albeit unfinished, novel by Jane Austen.
It’s a seaside resort on the South coast of England, and Tom Parker (Kris Marshall) – who first arrives in search of a doctor after he injures his ankle after a coach crash, but also wants to build a hotel and all the other kit and caboodle to go with it.
Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) bumps into Tom, and his wife, Mary (Kate Ashfield – Shaun Of The Dead), as their coach takes a tumble and she’s immediately smitten by the man and entranced by a potential change in lifestyle, wanting to work for him, so jumps on board and heads off to the CGI’d old town.
Tom uses words like “as keen as mustard” and “as right as ninepence”; Anne Reid (Years And Years) is his fuddy-duddy mother, Lady Denham, who likes to drink a glass of seawater each morning, all men are ‘enchanted’ to meet Charlotte, and in fact, it’s another period drama where ALL women need a man to validate their exisence.
Whenever anyone enter a dance ball, they must be announced so loudly that it stops everyone else actually… y’know, dancing; plus everyone goes bathing in the sea in the buff… well, the men do, but the women wear outfits that cover them up more than their regular clothes(!)
However, I was amused by Arthur (Turlough Convery), who says “the more I drink, the better I feel”, and how he feels groggy when he wakes up, but a few glasses of wine makes him ‘right as rain’. I can imagine that feeling 🙂
Overall, Sanditon is a very old-time period drama, and the sort of thing that fans of such shows will enjoy but, for me, it looks nice, but it’s way too twee.
Also, the trailer has someone saying the line “He will find you, and he will kill you”… but this is NOT Taken with Liam Neeson(!)
Sanditon begins tonight on ITV at 9pm, and is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its release on November 18th.After each episode is broadcast, they’ll be on the ITV Hub.
Episode 1 Score: 1/10
Directors: Oliver Blackburn, Lisa Clarke, Charles Sturridge
Producer: Georgina Lowe
Adaptation: Andrew Davies
Cast:
Charlotte Heywood: Rose Williams
Tom Parker: Kris Marshall
Mary Parker: Kate Ashfield
Sidney Parker: Theo James
Lady Denham: Anne Reid
Arthur Parker: Turlough Convery
Julia Beaufort: Kayleigh-Paige Rees
Diana Parker: Alexandra Roach
Miss Georgiana Lambe: Crystal Clarke
Esther Denham: Charlotte Spencer
Lord Babbington: Mark Stanley
Mr Crowe: Matthew Needham
Mrs. Griffiths: Elizabeth Berrington
Sir Edward Denham: Jack Fox
Phillida Beaufort: Mollie Holder
Clara Brereton: Lily Sacofsky
Young Stringer: Leo Suter
Mr. Hankins: The Actor Kevin Eldon
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.