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Sense & Sensibility : Complete BBC Series [2008] | ![Sense & Sensibility : Complete BBC Series [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DiGkjrFIL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Actors: Charity Wakefield, Hattie Morahan, David Morrissey
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £7.01
You Save: £12.98 (65%)
New (19) from £7.01
Rating:  35 reviews
Format: Colour, Pal
Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Original Language)
Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014503253325
ASIN: B001061UPM
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: January 14, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: All of our items are brand new and take approx 4-6 working days (excluding weekends) from order to delivery. We only deliver to the UK.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk review
From the pen of Andrew Davies, the man who's brought some of the finest literary adaptations to the small screen in recent years, comes the BBC's new take on Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility. Running across three episodes, it proves to be as much as a sumptuous treat as much of Davies' previous endeavours. Austen's story of the Dashwood sisters and a romance with John Willoughby is a familiar one (and it was realised quite brilliantly in Ang Lee's film adaptation in 1996), and so it's left to the super cast and terrific production values to convince audiences to dip into Sense & Sensibility again. Fortunately, the production delivers with consummate ease. Much of the credit for Sense & Sensibility's success lies in its excellent cast. David Morrissey, Mark Williams, Janet McTeer and Charity Wakefield are among the many strong performers, and they're matched by equally impressive work behind the camera too. There's an argument whether it manages to eclipse the 1996 filmed version (for which Emma Thompson took home an Oscar), but it's perhaps to best see them as companion pieces. And truthfully, you're not going to be disappointed with either. Because once again, the BBC has brought further life to a tale told many times before, and its production of Sense & Sensibility is set to be enjoyed for many years to come. --Jon Foster
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| Customer Reviews:
 very enjoyable, well cast and lovely to look at ; wonderful Elinor January 11, 2008
Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane (Fife, Scotland)
44 out of 49 found this review helpful
This is very, very enjoyable. It takes liberties over and above the necessary short-cutting and telescoping which inevitably arise in a filmed version of a full-length novel, but it is very watchable and a lot of fun. The settings are, of course, grand (where appropriate) and beautiful, with a particularly Romantic 'Devonshire' cottage for the distressed Dashwoods, visually lovely but also (inside) very cold! The casting is spot-on. Hattie Morahan as Elinor has a most intelligent and expressive face and never puts a foot wrong in her reactions ; she judges the controlled passion of the character, who lives under painful stress for a good part of the film without being able to reveal it, quite perfectly, and when finally Edward is able to voice his feelings, her tearful, inarticulate joy is most moving. This is an outstanding performance. Charity Wakefield plays the good-hearted, headstrong Marianne to a T, and their mother is the excellent Janet McTear, who conveys the bewilderment and dignified lack of practicality of one in her position wholly convincingly. Edmund and Willoughby are both good and I must say I found David Morrissey better than Alan Rickman, good as he was, in the famous film, pace another reviewer. Rickman is a mannered actor - a very good one - and he was too creepily lugubrious for me, whereas Morrissey is dignified, well-bred, reserved as he should be and (actually) also very dashing - lucky Marianne, in the end, though she has to go through a lot before she gets there. The background music is sometimes intrusive, but that's not a serious problem. The film ends delightfully, with Brandon carrying his young wife into his splendid country mansion and Elinor, laughing, watching Edward chasing chickens round their parsonage yard. It's a lovely adaptation and very enjoyable to watch.
A Bloke's Point Of View January 14, 2008
Coincidence Vs Fate (UK)
31 out of 35 found this review helpful
Now, as you can imagine, being a bloke, I'm not a big costume drama fan, though I will admit to loving "He Knew He Was Right".
Anyway, I tend to watch these things as my wife does and I have very little chance of wrestling the remote control off her!
As soon as this adaptation started I was gripped - I didn't know the story and although I'd seen other adaptations, had never really played any attention. This however seemed different. The actresses weren't unbelievably beautiful like can they can be in some of these dramas and for me that made the whole thing more believable.
I've spent an hour for the last three Sunday evenings booing, hissing and cheering in equal measure every time Willoughby or the Colonel appeared on the screen.
I'm actually going to order this DVD and I'll be watching and enjoying the whole thing again in the not too distant future.
And for what it's worth, I thought the music was beautiful and certainly no more intrusive or distracting than the scores to a million other productions.
My advice to any man wondering whether to buy this or not, would be go for it and get in touch with your romantic side!
Very close and an interesting interpretation January 4, 2008
Meerkat (Dereham, Norfolk)
28 out of 35 found this review helpful
I approached this with some weariness - it's only just been done, for goodness sake and the film version was excellent, despite leaving out a number of minor characters.
However, the beginning is very good. They've kept in the minor characters (like little Henry Dashwood and Lady Middleton) and are sticking pretty well to the book.
The writers have chosen to insert scenes from the book that actually happened, but 'off stage' if you like; things we find out happened, but which we don't actually 'see' in the book. The young lady being undressed at the beginning is an example of this. The significance of this scene will not be apparent until much later on.
The characters are all good, except they've made Edward Ferrars too handsome and rather like a young Hugh Grant. I'm not complaining, mind, it's just that in the book he's described as plain.
The middle section is the most disappointing to my mind. Having set up the characters and story very well, the writers evidently felt free to extemporise in the rough direction the author intended.
Still A+ for keeping in the minor characters; Miss Steele is a great character and all too often left out of other adaptations.
B- for the storyline, however. When will script writers learn that the novellist knew what s/he was doing and stick to the story? The extra scenes feel awkward and out of place; Brandon confronting Willoughby about Marianne ... Robert Ferrars saying his brother was a hobbledehoy ... and they really have skated over the middle part of the story with a very light touch and left a lot out.
I'm pleased that the writers left in the scene where Willoughby visits Elinor to explain his conduct - that is all too often left out and I think it is a vital part of the book. He has a good point; just because he was a libertine, that did not make Miss Grey a saint... it takes two to tango, after all.
I think, overall, that this is a good adaptation of the book. The writers have used their imagination (on the whole) well to fill in some of the blanks with extra scenes that are hinted at in the book but not shown. Some dialogue was missed out, which was a shame as there were scenes where I felt something was just a little bit missing and a line or so from the original book would have just helped smooth over that slight awkwardness.
I give it an overall cautious 'thumbs up'. I like the way the writers kept the minor characters, but one question on that - Mr Palmer is a wonderful 'Eeyore' character in the book and Hugh Laurie portrayed him beautifully in the Ang Lee film - why was he very much sidelined in this TV version?
Certainly watch this if you are a fan of Austen, but bear in mind that it is not a blow-by-blow literal interpretation of the novel.
 Nice - good, even. But not amazing January 8, 2008
Susan E. Wyld (West Midlands, Uk)
27 out of 41 found this review helpful
I was looking forward to this, as there hasn't been an adaptation in a while, and although the 1996 film is excellent it did cut out quite a few of the finer details and minor characters. But unfortunately, despite obvious effort by all the actors and the 3 hours duration, it gives us very little that wasn't already done better in Emma Thompson's adaptation. I found it most disappointing in places and distinctly average overall - not brilliant.
The characters all look right and are well cast - Hattie Morahan in particular is great as Elinor and it is nice to see her played by an actress of the right age. But Charity Wakefield's Marianne has to face up to the inevitable comparisons with Kate Winslet and sadly comes off a poor second. On the whole there is something wanting in pace, energy and passion and it is altogether too heavy and "straight", with not enough comedy or irony. Jane Austen is extremely witty and gives us wonderful comic characters (eg. interfering Mrs Jennings), but that characterisation just doesn't come across enough. The Steele sisters are good, and Nancy in particular is hilarious - but Lucy is too likeable and not nearly frivolous enough. Sir John was sadly greatly played down and they managed to make young Margaret a bit annoying.
One other thing that spoilt it a bit for me was the dreary and intrusive background music, which would be more suited to a Bronte or Dickens adaptation in my opinion. It completely destroyed the moment when Marianne and Willoughby kiss - and why suddenly go into slow-motion? The actors were doing a fine job of portraying the emotions between them without the need for that. In fact, why bother at all? The script itself should be able to convey to us their love for each other without the need for "sexing it up". They built up wonderful tension at the moment when Willoughby cuts a lock of Marianne's hair, but then a few scenes later they go way too far by showing them alone in an empty house, kissing, and the effect is lost. Sometimes less is more.
I also failed to see enough passion and strength from Colonel Brandon, until very late on. When the letter arrived concerning his ward and he abandoned the Delaford picnic to ride off to London, it was as if he had just been told they'd run out of milk (or something equally as unmoving). You simply can't compare that scene with the depth of reaction we see at that same moment from Alan Rickman. He did such an amazing job in 1996 that perhaps this role has been spoilt for other actors, but all the same disappointing.
The last ugly and strangely disjointed confrontation scene between Elinor and Willoughby I disliked intensely. The dialogue seemed very forced and out of keeping with Jane Austen and left the character with no redeeming features at all, despite his protestation that he was genuinely in love with Marianne. Willoughby is supposed to be a loveable rogue who we can't help liking despite it all, and we should be left feeling slightly sorry for him having been forced to sacrifice the love of his life because of his past bad behaviour. But this Willoughby is an obnoxious chancer and not dashing enough at all. I found myself thinking "good riddance, he never truly loved her anyway", which cheapens the whole Marianne-Willoughby relationship and spoils the final moral of the story somewhat.
The ending is the ultimate in cheese, with Brandon carrying Marianne accross the threshold in slow-motion (again!) and Elinor watching Edward chase chickens around the yard.
Overall, this has its good moments and gets better as it goes on, but in my view it won't go down as a classical or definitive adaptation. I think the core of the problem is that Andrew Davies tried too hard to "modernise" the characters to make them more "interesting", so the true essence of the story got a bit lost. I can just about cope with Edward chopping logs in his shirt, but is beating carpets in a passionate rage really in character for Elinor Dashwood? And I certainly wouldn't have bothered with the opening "seduction" scene. It didn't really add anyting to the story at all and was utterly out of keeping with Jane Austen.
If this were the first or only adaptation available, perhaps it would seem more impressive, but the fact is, there is already another one out there which is far superior. If you want a witty, roller-coaster ride of passion and heartache which will draw you in and have you gripped from start to end, then watch the film. It might be more condensed, but on the whole it's much better.
Heart-Flutteringly Fantastic! January 13, 2008
Freya Freeman (England)
17 out of 21 found this review helpful
This adaptation is one to be devoured. Its dramatic, utterly beautiful and perfect for a Sunday evening on a wintery night. Or any time for that matter. If you are a hopeless romantic who needs a bit of gritty drama with your love-fix, then you won't be dissappointed as this delivers on all counts.
The costumes are beautiful and the locations perfect for this. The Cast are wonderful and I haven't been dissappointed by any of the acting performances. Rarely am I so swept away! Thumbs up from me.
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