Jane Austen Emma

[Arborbridge]

You have been watching or have just missed on the Drama channel, the finest version of Emma ever made (in my view).

I've seen several the available versions, including the latest rather trite offering in 2020 with Anya Taylor-Joy, but nothing approaches this it in quality. It is the 2009 production made for the BBC in four episodes with an almost perfect cast led by Romola Garai and John Lee Miller.

Perhaps Janes Austen's greatest novel for it's intricate interlacing of feelings a motives, it is sometimes described as a "comedy" but that is a crass description of a very subtle book.

I've seen this version three times now and I still discover new details in it. Nothing can match this for the emotional power of the acting in the final episode when it all comes together. The scene between Emma and Mr Knightley when the truth is gradually revealed by their subtle acting is a wonder. Gyneth and Anya should watch this pair as a master class in how to do it.

This is the BBC at its unsurpassable best.