The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012–2013)
The novel as a grad student’s video diary, on YouTube, in a hundred short episodes.
A young woman talking straight to camera about her family and the man she can’t stand is Austen’s narrator with a webcam.
You want something free, funny and modern that still follows the novel in order.
What it keeps and what it changes
Keeps: the characters, the plot and its order, moved to the present day.
Changes: the form: Lizzie is a mass communications graduate student making a video diary for her thesis, and the story reaches you through her videos.
Created by Hank Green and Bernie Su. One hundred video-diary episodes on YouTube; the first web series to win a Primetime Emmy. A companion novel, The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, followed in 2014.
Whose story is it?
Lizzie’s, played by Ashley Clements, telling it herself.
How much time does it ask?
100 episodes of 2 to 8 minutes, April 2012 to March 2013. It won a Primetime Emmy for interactive media in 2013.
Created by Hank Green and Bernie Su; Ashley Clements, Daniel Vincent Gordh, Julia Cho, Laura Spencer, Mary Kate Wiles.
Where to find it
Other ways to get it: Watch free — YouTube · The companion novel — Bookshop.org · The companion novel — Amazon · Find where it’s streaming — JustWatch
Common questions
Is The Lizzie Bennet Diaries free?
Yes. All 100 episodes went out on YouTube between April 2012 and March 2013, and the channel is still up. There is also a DVD and a companion novel, The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet.
More ways into Longbourn: Pride and Prejudice (1940) · Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1980) · Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1995)