Lost in Austen

. . . in Longbourne.

I may be asked to hand in my Austen Purists card but I liked it. And I think ITV are far better advised to try and cash in on the Austen market with this type of product than with the anaemic reproductions of BBC period drama they treated us to last year.

It's limited but it's funny. One of mainstays is that the characters are all subtly different and we are mostly offstage with scenes from the novel happening elsewhere. Lydia is attractively vivacious rather than promiscuously giddy, Jane is not that pretty, Darcy is not offensively haughty, the stranger from the future is not offensively gauche, and Mrs Bennett who has been very quick to understand the threat the newcomer poses to her daughters AND take action, is set up for very interesting developments - more a fearsome adversary so far than a cringing embarrassment.

Lizzie even looks like Lizzie should, but since she's hardly been in it so far, we'll have to wait and see what Gemma Arterton comes up with when she gets a few lines. It's a big ask, so I'll be interested to see whether she and Jemima Rooper can carry it off.

But you can count me in. Definitely.