Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1980)
Fay Weldon’s five-part BBC serial, with Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.
A novelist adapting a novelist, with five episodes to do it in and no hurry.
You know the 1995 series and want to see the BBC’s earlier one, adapted by a novelist.
What it keeps and what it changes
Keeps: the period and the plot, at television length.
Changes: the length and the pace. Fay Weldon adapted it in five episodes; the BBC made it with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it aired in the US on Masterpiece Theatre.
Whose story is it?
Elizabeth’s, played by Elizabeth Garvie, with David Rintoul as Darcy.
How much time does it ask?
Five episodes, first broadcast weekly from 13 January 1980.
Elizabeth Garvie, David Rintoul, Moray Watson, Priscilla Morgan; directed by Cyril Coke.
Where to find it
Other ways to get it: Watch with Prime — Prime Video · Find where it’s streaming — JustWatch
More ways into Longbourn: Pride and Prejudice (1940) · Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1995) · Pride & Prejudice (2005)