An ITV adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sanditon introduces the author’s only black character on screen for the first time.
The new eight-part drama adapts and expands Austen’s unfinished last novel, after she abandoned work on the project due to ill health.
The unfinished text was published in 1925 after her death, and has now been adapted into a TV series by BAFTA-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies (War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice).
Sanditon is believed to feature Jane Austen’s only black character in Miss Lambe, an heiress from the West Indies, even though she’s never explicitly described as such in the novel.
Speaking during a Q&A panel for the show’s launch in London, Andrew Davies explained the process of bringing Miss Lambe, played by Crystal Clarke, to the screen.
‘What [Jane Austen] did was set up a place and established this wonderful group of characters very clearly but she never really got the story going at all,’ Davies said.
‘But what she did was so fresh because these men in particular are not like Jane Austen’s usual people. They’re kind of businessmen, entrepreneurs, they’re something new and what the country was going to become. Think the first industrial age with big business. So that’s very interesting.’
Referring to Miss Lambe, Davies added: ‘And an heiress from the West Indies. Jane Austen didn’t actually say she’s black but we thought hell, why not? “Chilly and tender” is how Miss Lambe is described, so if she finds the climate chilly then that’s what we thought.’
Executive producer Belinda Campbell added: ‘She’s an heiress. She’s got a lot of money and a lot of power.
‘And all these women in the show are all strong, and making their best of the situation with the hand they’ve been dealt – which makes it really modern and strong. They’re all formidable characters.’
The series focuses on Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) and her relationship with love interest Sidney Parker (Theo James), after she moves away from her hometown of Willingden to the fishing village of Sanditon.
Sanditon is striving to become a seaside resort, with the residents of the village relying on Sanditon’s commercial success to boost their fortunes.
Other cast members include Anne Reid, Kate Ashfield, Charlotte Spencer, Kris Marshall, and Leo Suter.
Sanditon is set to be released on ITV in the autumn.
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