How TV’s Sanditon turned into a game of Jane Austen I Spy
WHEN writer Andrew Davies announced he was adapting Sanditon, Jane Austen’s last and unfinished novel, into an eight-part series for the first time, literature fans were understandably thrilled.
And now, it seems, they have even more reason to tune in.
Production designer Grant Montgomery, a lifelong Austen fan, has revealed he has hidden 35 references to her other works throughout the series for viewers to play a literary game of I Spy.
He said: ‘It’s a huge love letter to Jane. I thought it would be really great to do. It’s meant to be fun and you are meant to revel in it. It’s like Jane Austen’s greatest hits.’
One hidden reference is a street map in the office of town architect Tom Parker, played by Love Actually star Kris Marshall, on which many streets are named after Austen characters. Darcy Place has been named after Mr Darcy from Pride And Prejudice, and Ferrars Gardens is a reference to Edward Ferrars from Sense And Sensibility.
Similarly, the town’s bookseller has been named Austen’s in honour of the author, while the characters of Colonel Brandon from Sense And Sensibility and Charles Bingley from Pride And Prejudice have lent their names to the town’s barbers and butchers respectively.
Another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference includes a copy of Pride And Prejudice, which has been strategically placed on a bookcase. Even more discreet allusions are perhaps for Austen devotees only. A party scene in episode six is filled with apple blossom – a reference to the apple blossom trees in Emma. And another episode shows a mail coach with London, Sanditon and Chawton written on the side. Austen spent the last eight years of her life in Chawton, a village in Hampshire.
Montgomery said he was sure Austen fanatics would approve: ‘The Jane Austen society visited the set and couldn’t help but laugh at all the Austen jokes included on some of the posters in the town.’
The series, which stars Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood and Theo James as Sidney Parker, continues at 9pm on ITV tonight.