Jane Austen adaptations see new developments in film and research

Screenwriter Andrew Davies has revealed that he watched all 31 series of the reality TV show ‘Made in Chelsea’ to serve as research for his upcoming adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished work, ‘The Watsons’. Davies, known for his period drama adaptations such as ‘Pride and Prejudice’, noted that the relationships and social dynamics in the reality show are “analogous” to the characters in the 1803 fragment.

Separately, a new film adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’, directed by Georgia Oakley and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles, is scheduled for release. The film will open in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2026, followed by a United States release on October 16, 2026. To coincide with the film, Penguin Books and Puffin in Bloom are releasing new tie-in editions of the novel.