Kiss and tell!

Can Charlotte build a happy future with Mr Colbourne?

Since returning to Sanditon, Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) has insisted that she’s uninterested in love and marriage. But it’s been impossible to ignore the simmering romantic tension between Charlotte and her employer, Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-hughes).

At the end of last week’s episode, the two shared a tender moment when Mr Colbourne finally told Charlotte the truth about his troubled marriage to his late wife Lucy, and the two kissed. But is Charlotte set to become the next Mrs Colbourne, or will their past traumas tear them apart?

‘Charlotte isn’t driven by looking for a husband at all,’ explains Rose. ‘But she’s under pressure to marry. Charlotte has a responsibility to her family – she’s the eldest daughter, so there’s an expectation. Marriage at that time was very much an economic transaction. It was all to do with the amount of money your family had.’

Wild spirit

The relationship between Charlotte and Mr Colbourne is complicated by the fact she works for him as governess to his daughter Leo (Flora Mitchell) and niece Augusta (Eloise Webb), and Charlotte has grown attached to both. But could she become a fully fledged member of their family?

‘Charlotte is drawn to these girls and their wild spirit,’ says Rose. ‘She learns more about who she is through these young women.’

Playing Charlotte has been an eyeopening experience for Rose, who loved reading Jane Austen’s 1817 unfinished novel that the series is based on.

‘I wasn’t aware how ahead of her time Jane was – she was a bright thinker,’ says Rose. ‘I’m definitely an Austen convert!’