Daily Express Friday, August 23, 2019 21DX1STPictures: ITV, BBC, PA & GETTYTIDE OF INTRIGUE: A beach hut sceneRACY: Andrew
Davies is a fan
of Love IslandSEX AND SANDITON
first series of Downton Abbey.
Dark, dashing and Darcy-ish,
Sidney, “a man of affairs” in the
import-export business, catches
Charlotte’s eye. But is he a good
sort or a terrible bounder?
One of Sanditon’s most
interesting characters is
mysterious Miss Lambe, a
West Indian heiress.
She is played by
American actress Crystal
Clarke, 25, who when
first approached, assumed
the character would be a
maid. In fact, MissLambe is glamorous, sophisticated
and regarded as quite the catch.
“Miss Lambe is Austen’s only
character of colour,” says historian
Professor Kathryn Hughes.
“At this point in the 19th
century, mixed-race women
from the West Indies are
seen as a fine prize in
London because they’re
assumed to be heiresses.
“The kind of racism
some people might
wrongly associate with this
period doesn’t start until
the middle of the(^) century, when ideas
about race,
eugenics and so
on get going,
especially once the US Civil War is
under way.’”
Needless to say, the show clips
along like a briskly driven coach-
and-four and has everything you
want in a Regency period drama.
There are empire waist dresses
and bonnets with ribbons, stately
homes and landscaped gardens, a
scheming beauty (“You have no
idea what I’m prepared to do,” she
says) and a corrupted innocent.
The cast look as though they
are having a ball and, needless
to say, there is an actual ball –
sumptuously shot and beautifully
choreographed.
Parker needs the event be a
success in order to generate much-
needed publicity for the resort and
to ensure Lady Denham
doesn’t pull out her money. It
sets in train all manner of
intrigues and sub-plots.
Davies suggests Sanditon
will fill the gap left by
Poldark, or you could think
of it as Downton-on-Sea.
There is already excited talk
of a second season.
It might not much resem-
ble Jane Austen and purists
from the militant wing of her
fans will probably be reduced
to fainting fits. But for the
rest of us, this is great
Sunday evening TV viewing.
● Sanditon is on ITV on
Sunday at 9pm.
MORE AUTUMN TV HIGHLIGHTS
Peaky Blinders, BBC One, Sunday
Steven Knight’s stylish tale of the rise of
Birmingham gangster Tommy Shelby
moves to BBC One from BBC Two for its
fifth season. Cillian Murphy’s
chain-smoking anti-hero, right,
is now an MP, but his family
is threatened by the
financial crash of 1929.
Scarborough, BBC One,
September
Jason Manford and former
Coronation Street star
Catherine Tyldesley star in
this gentle comedy from Benidorm writer
Darren Litten about the loves and lives of
residents in a North Yorkshire resort.
Expect plenty of drama over pulled pints as
couples belt out songs in between
pouring out their hearts in the
show’s pivotal karaoke setting.
A Confession, ITV,
September 2
The Hobbit Star Martin
Freeman flexes his acting
muscles for this six-part
crime drama based on a
true story. Freeman plays
Detective Superintendent
Steve Fulcher who breached
police protocol to catch a
murderer, plunging his career
into chaos in the process.
The Capture, BBC One, September 3
Conspiracy thriller The Capture, above,
delves into the murky world of “fake news”
and the intelligence service. Soldier Shaun
Emery, played by Callum Turner, returns to
Britain after his murder conviction in
Afghanistan is overturned because of
flawed evidence, but a night out captured
on CCTV threatens to unravel his new life.
Holliday Grainger also
stars.
State of the Union, BBC
Two, September
Expect plenty of belly
laughs in this witty comedy
series from the pen of author
Nick Hornby, starring Rosamund Pike
and Chris O’Dowd. Each 10-minute
episode sees the leading characters in
the pub deliberating where their
relationship went wrong, before they go
off to a marriage counselling session.
KAT HOPPS
TIDTIDEOE OF IFINTRNTRIGUIGUEEEE:A: AAA bebbebachachhh huhhhuhuhtttststst scencencencenceneeee
MAKING WAVES: Sanditon stars, from
left, Theo James, Rose Williams,
Crystal Clarke, Anne Reid and Kris
Marshall. Inset, Jane Austen