Lost in Austen (2008) (Episode 4)

Part 4 of 4 of the fantasy period drama. Amanda's life is in tatters. Darcy discovers Amanda's novel of Pride & Prejudice and believing her of using them to further a writing career decides to become engaged to Caroline Bingley. Worse still, a drunken Bingley - still pining for Jane Bennett - decides to elope with her sister Lydia, leading to an enraged Mr Bennett and co to set off with a shotgun to find him. Despairing, Amanda sets off after them, but unexpectedly finds herself back in her own time. Unfortunately for her, Darcy has followed her and also found himself in her world. What is she going to do? Starring Jemima Rooper, Elliot Rowan, Alex Kingston, Hugh Bonneville, Christina Cole, Lindsay Duncan, Tom Riley, Tom Mison, Perdita Weeks, Morvern Christie, Florence Hoath, Ruby Bentall, Guy Henry, Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Daniel Percival and Paul Hine. The final episode and things get very dicey as Mr Bennett looks for blood when Bingley absconds with Lydia. With Darcy engaged to his sister Caroline, can Amanda sort out the mess and get it back to how the novel should be? You may be surprised by it's conclusion. I'm not much for "modern" series, but I really enjoyed this one (as long as you remember it isn't meant to be Pride & Prejudice). Jemima Rooper is hugely engaging in this, and Elliot Cowan makes a fine pairing for her, even if Darcy will forever be Colin Firth for me. The cast all do a fine job, and especial mention should go to Alex Kingston, who thankfully stops Mrs Bennett from being a shrill neurotic that some have made her in previous versions. Interestingly, of the Bennett sisters, both Perdita Weeks and Florence Hoath appeared together as child stars in the TV series Goggle-Eyes in 1993, while this was an early role for both Morvern Christie and Ruby Bentall (daughter of actress Janine Duvitski). But while this was the start of success for Ruby Bentall, for screen sibling Florence Hoath (The Cazalets) this was surprisingly her final screen role.