Pride and Plagiarism
PBS to Air ‘Pride & Prejudice’ Sequel
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The “Pride and Prejudice” sequel “Death Comes to Pemberley” is coming to PBS.
The public TV service announced Tuesday that it will air a three-part adaptation of the 2011 novel by acclaimed mystery writer P.D. James. It imagines the continuing lives of Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, married and with a murder to solve.
Perhaps I have been spoiled by “Game of Thrones” but I was hoping that the entire cast would be murdered. The question is how?
Of course, half of the family could succumb to syphilis; but that would not be a mystery. It is a actuarial certainty.
A servant uprising would be justified–and get record ratings in Ireland, India…well, it would be a long list.
The households could be killed by an extraterrestrial race of motorized fire hydrants called Daleks; but the new Doctor Who arrives in time to save Charles Dickens.
A team of American commandos arrive by canoe at Pemberley. Their goal: avenge the burning of Washington. Davey Crockett admits that Mr. Darcy looks erotic in a wet shirt but shoots him anyway. Andrew Jackson seizes the Bennett sisters and sells them as slaves in Charleston. Elizabeth ends up as the concubine of Martin van Buren.
And any of these ideas can be adapted for Downton Abbey ( Mary Crawley could be the concubine of Calvin Coolidge).
It’s said that bad books make good movies, in which case the mini-series may be more watchable than the book was readable.
Unless they can get Colin Firth to reprise his role as Mr. Darcy, I won’t be watching.
It could be worse. PBS could have chosen to film “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”