Celebrating 20 years of Pride and Prejudice (1995) TV Miniseries

Taking a little pause here from our on going P&P (2005) movie's 10th Year Anniversary event...to celebrate another big P&P anniversary, this time the 20th Anniversary of the Andrew Davies penned 1995 Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle. It first aired in the UK's BBC One network back in September 24th, 1995 (exactly 20 years ago today)!

Happy 20th Anniversary P&P 1995!!

Last April, I previously posted here: Two beloved Pride & Prejudice screen adaptations with upcoming anniversaries in September 2015!

Of course, we've been celebrating here the 10th year anniverary of Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice (2005) film all month long, but today, I thought I'd take the time to celebrate P&P 1995's 20th anniversary. I know this version isn't my top favorite (it's at least on my top 3), but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. I did and thought it was still very good. Yes. I was a bit critical on my review of this adaptation in my long P&P 200: Pride and Prejudice (1995) Review two years ago, but that's just my thoughts and opinion. This was still the very first P&P adaptation (among the many including the 2005 movie) I've ever seen and had introduced me to Jane Austen and her other novels. So, I'm dedicating this post to this wonderful TV Mini-series on its 20th anniversary today.

Revisit this beloved and fan-favorite P&P TV & film adaptation by watching the fanmade trailer, reading synopsis, and feast your eyes with all the  promotional stills/screen caps from P&P 1995 TV miniseries below...

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

starring Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle
See full cast and crew (via IMDB)
directed by Simon Langton screenplay by Andrew Davies Total Episodes: Six (on BBC One)
Original Air Date: September 24, 1995 (first episode date)
October 29, 1995 (final episode date)

Plot Synopsis:

Pride and Prejudice is a six-episode 1995 British television drama, adapted by Andrew Davies from Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's (Benjamin Whitrow and Alison Steadman) five unmarried daughters (Jane - Susannah Harker, Elizabeth/Lizzy - Jennifer Ehle, Mary - Lucy Briers, Kitty - Polly Maberly, Lydia - Julia Sawalha) after the rich and eligible Mr. Bingley (Crispin Bonham-Carter) and his status-conscious friend, Mr. Darcy, have moved into their neighborhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth. The New York Times called the adaptation "a witty mix of love stories and social conniving, cleverly wrapped in the ambitions and illusions of a provincial gentry."

Watch this fanmade trailer for P&P 1995...

Pride and Prejudice (1995) Promotional stills
featuring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy &
Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet

 (source: BBC)

Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet

 (source: BBC)

Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy

 

  (source: BBC)

Other P&P 1995 Stills

 

   (source: BBC)

About two years ago, during our 200th anniversary celebration of Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice novel, I previously posted here in this blog my long P&P 200: Pride and Prejudice (1995) Review. 

Re-posting here what I love about this P&P 1995 miniseries...

• One of the advantages of this mini-series is that, it has a lot of time to show and tell the story (6 hours time), that both the 1940s and 2005 versions (with a little over 2 hours) didn't have much time for. But then again, comparing TV and film versions is like comparing apples to oranges.
• Loved the scene at the beginning when Lizzy was entering the house and saw a glimpse of her father, Mr. Bennet rolling his eyes out upon seeing the annoyance of Lydia and Kitty and he saw Lizzy and they both smiled.
  
• Loved Mr. Darcy's unexpected and awkward visit to Lizzy at Mr. & Mrs. Collins home in Hunsford and the first proposal scene following that.
• A lot of characters from the novel (even minor ones) were featured here.
• Loved Elizabeth and Georgiana playing duets at the piano-forte and Darcy staring and smiling at Lizzy (as she does to him) in this memorable Pemberley scene. One of my favorite scenes from this mini-series.
  
• Loved the Pemberley scene when Caroline mentioned to Darcy how he thought of her as "pretty at one time," to which Darcy replied, "yes, but that was only when I first knew her, for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance."
• Loved Elizabeth and Darcy scenes especially the Pemberley scenes
  
• I love the scene with Elizabeth, Georgiana, and Mr. Darcy at Lambton Inn
  
• Has a little more time to show supporting characters and their back stories such as Wickham, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Georgiana Darcy to name a few. 
• More dialogue (seems a lot of them were similar to the novel)
• Loved Mr. Bennet and Lizzy's father and daughter chat scene towards the end
• Loved the second proposal, of course, but wished there were more to it...
  
• Loved the double wedding ending (though it's interesting that this wasn't mentioned in the book) to this mini-series

For more on P&P 1995 miniseries, see all the previously posted related articles/posts here: Pride and Prejudice 1995  

Also, check out one of my CF & JE posts: Photos: P&P co-stars Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle reunited 15 years later!