Inquiring readers, It is confirmed!! Sanditon, Jane Austen’s last unfinished fragment of a novel has been adapted for television as an 8-episode mini-series by Andrew Davies, who adapted 1995’s Pride and Prejudice for the small screen. Mr. Davies uses his talents and knowledge of Jane Austen and British history to finish the novel that Jane laid aside months before her death. The mini-series includes nude bathing (an historically accurate touch) and, to paraphrase Mr. Davies, is somewhat “sexed up.” (Town and Country Magazine.)
British audiences: Sanditon begins on ITV on Sunday 25th August 2019 at 9pm for 8 episodes.
U.S. audiences: The PBS Masterpiece Sanditon will air some time in 2020. Look for announcements later.
What is Sanditon? According to Oxford World Classics…”Jane Austen writes what may well be the first seaside novel: a novel, that is, that explores the mysterious and startling transformation that a stay by the sea can work on individuals and relationships.”
…”In this, her final, unfinished work, the writer sets aside her familiar subject matter, the country village with its settled community, for the transient and and eccentric assortment of people who drift to the new resort, the town built upon sand.”
Read about the novel, newly released by Oxford World’s Classics and edited by Kathryn Sutherlund at this link. Look for my review of the unfinished novel soon.
Tony Grant, a frequent contributor to this blog, has written a post in anticipation of the series: SANDITON ( an unfinished novel by Jane Austen) is coming to our screens. What might we see?
View the trailer below on PBS’s site:
Sanditon: First Look on PBS Masterpiece: Click here
Additional Sanditon information:
Jane Austen's World 
VERY EXCITING!!!!!
I hope you mean 2020, and not 2010. :)
Drat. I thought I caught it. :)
Vic, this is good news but is the soundtrack really going to be so jarring and inappropriate? Jane’s words are modern enough.
I hope not. There have been many complaints about the soundtrack on the YouTube video.
looking forward to the release
denise
Oh no. “Sexed up.” And her father has a beard. I fear the BBC writers are rewriting history and culture. Sigh. I just hope Miss Jane doesn’t spin in her grave.
Regarding Masterpiece’s Sanditon – do they really need a pop song as music background? Couldn’t they have modernized the music (if they must) with just a little more subtlety? I don’t see that it is required for a modern audience to stay interested, unless they are expecting CD or streaming sales. But then, I’m an oldie myself. I can always turn off the volume control.