Waiting impatiently for various new potentially-promising audiovisual fixes of Austen

First, my new favorite Austenite playroom, AustenBlog. Most of the following fun tidbits were found chez them or thanks to them....

Basically, ITV1 in the UK is doing a whole Austen series starting in March (which hopefully we'll be able to sample on various US channels and/or via DVD soon...): Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey.

Take a deep breath before you read this: Rupert Penry-Jones is Wentworth in Persuasion opposite the wonderful Sally Hawkins (you'll recognize her if you saw Fingersmith, Vera Drake, or maybe Layer Cake [I have yet to see the latter so I'm not sure how prominently she figures]).... As for Rupert, someone will have to go with me to hold the smelling salts all thru the movie... Here's a pretty interesting pdf'd article to read from Jane Austen's Regency World with production photos, including a really cool one of Anthony Head as Sir Walter. :)

In addition to all these BBC is working on another Andrew-Davies-penned (he of the '95 P&P and Wives & Daughters as well as Tipping the Velvet among others) adaptation of Sense & Sensibility.

And last but not least, tho I'm a bit resistant about it, (oh come on, you know I'll go see it but I have a right to feel conflicted): Becoming Jane. Here's a great article on it from the Daily Telegraph, again thanks to AustenBlog. So I guess we'll see... :)