‘Horny’ thought sparked Colin Firth’s Pride and Prejudice, says Andrew Davies

The author of the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice adaptation starring Colin Firth says the thought got here from a former pupil who advised he make it “really sexy”.

Written 30 years in the past by Cardiff-born Andrew Davies, the TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s traditional novel turned a cultural phenomenon, attracting greater than 11 million viewers within the UK and thousands and thousands extra within the US.

It received two BAFTAs and an Emmy, made Firth a star, and produced certainly one of tv’s most-talked about scenes as Mr Darcy emerged from a lake in a moist shirt.

Davies mentioned “it took years of perseverance and persuasion to get it on our screens” as a consequence of commissioners saying costume dramas “had gone quite out of fashion”.

Davies tailored Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice right into a six-episode BBC collection which aired in 1995.

Set in Regency England, the story follows Elizabeth Bennet and her advanced relationship with the proud Mr Darcy, exploring love, class, and social expectations among the many lives of rich folks within the English countryside within the early nineteenth Century.

Davies mentioned his former pupil Sue Birtwistle, who’s now a TV producer, mentioned to him “you and I should do a really sexy adaptation of Pride and Prejudice”.

“I knew exactly what she meant, it would be an adaptation that acknowledged that the plot of the story is about sex and money when people had the idea that Jane Austen was all about politeness, witty remarks and everyone buttoned up to the neck,” he advised Radio Wales Breakfast.

Davies defined how the evaluations and press protection made it clear the present was “causing much more of a stir than most things did”.

“These were the days before ‘binge watching’ so episodes went out weekly so there was a sense of a big build up.

“More and extra folks have been speaking about it because the weeks went on,” he added.

Speaking about the infamous lake scene, in which Firth as Mr Darcy emerges wet-shirted and dripping from the lake of his country estate after an impromptu swim, Davies said: “I by no means meant for that to be an attractive scene.

“My thinking was all about giving an insight into Mr Darcy as the novel is written entirely from Elizabeth’s point of view.

“I meant for him to dive in bare initially however in some way we misplaced that however we gained the moist shirt.

“I thought the viewers would see the scene as sweet and comical,” Davies added.

According to Davies, Firth by no means escaped the impression of the position, though initially being “quite uncomfortable playing a leading man and a romantic hero”.

Despite this, Davies mentioned he “took on the role so well” and referred to as it an “extraordinary performance”.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that people are still watching it,” he added.