Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1995)
Andrew Davies’s six-part series, with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.
Give the novel five and a half hours and it can keep nearly everything, then add one scene Austen never wrote.
You want the version everyone quotes, with time for every subplot.
What it keeps and what it changes
Keeps: nearly the whole plot and most of the cast of characters, over six episodes.
Changes: a few things, famously one: Andrew Davies wrote Darcy a swim in the lake at Pemberley, and Elizabeth meets him soaking wet. It is not in the novel.
Andrew Davies’s six episodes keep nearly the whole plot. He added the scene of Darcy in the lake at Pemberley, which is not in the novel. Jennifer Ehle won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress.
Whose story is it?
Elizabeth’s, played by Jennifer Ehle, who won the BAFTA for it; Colin Firth is Darcy.
How much time does it ask?
Six episodes, about 327 minutes in all.
Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth, Alison Steadman, Benjamin Whitrow, David Bamber, Susannah Harker; directed by Simon Langton, produced by Sue Birtwistle.
Where to find it
Buy or watch with Prime — Prime Video
Other ways to get it: Blu-ray — Amazon · Find where it’s streaming — JustWatch
Common questions
Is the lake scene in the book?
No. Andrew Davies wrote it for the 1995 series: Darcy swims in the lake at Pemberley and meets Elizabeth while still wet. In the novel they meet unexpectedly in the grounds, and nobody swims.
More ways into Longbourn: Pride and Prejudice (1940) · Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1980) · Pride & Prejudice (2005)