Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius First Look

A first look at Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius, coming soon to iPlayer

In this extract, Helen Fielding and Greta Scacchi give their insights into how Jane's personal heartbreak inspired Pride and Prejudice.

BBC Arts is marking the 250th birthday of the great novelist with this major series drawing on the surviving letters, alongside insights from experts, contemporary novelists, and actors. Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius is a three-part series by 72 Films that shows ‘the real Jane Austen’ and how she defied the odds in 18th-century England; and, as the author of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma, how she ripped up the rulebook and reinvented the novel to allow her readers into characters’ minds as never before.

But getting into Austen’s own mind isn’t easy. She wrote thousands of letters to her sister Cassandra, who burnt almost all of them after Jane’s death at the age of 41. Rise of a Genius draws on the remaining letters, and the insights of experts, contemporary novelists, and actors who have portrayed her characters, to bring Austen back to life.

Each episode weaves cinematic drama vignettes with contributions from authors and writers including Helen Fielding, Candice Carty-Williams, Kate Atkinson, Colm Tóibín and Bee Rowlatt; actors Charity Wakefield, Greta Scacchi, Samuel West, Tamsin Greig, Tom Bennett and Greg Wise, experts and historians Dr Paula Byrne, Admiral Lord West, Dr Priya Atwal, Dr Louise Curran and Dr Paddy Bullard, and film-maker Ken Loach.

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