Sanditon
Bangers and Cash
Dear reader! What a charming and indeed most unexpected occurence to encounter you at the outset of this trifling critique in which, as you know, we shall endeavour to assess the recent televisual entertainments.
There is doubtless no need to remind you that foremost among these is Sanditon (ITVX), since you will be aware it is inspired by the uncompleted final novel of our beloved Miss Jane Austen, who…
It’s no use! Anne Reid, Kevin Eldon and the rest of the Sanditon cast are able to keep up these verbose explanations for hours, but the more they recap the plot, the more exasperated I become.
Anne Reid, Kevin Eldon and the rest of the Sanditon cast are able to keep up these verbose explanations for hours, but the more they recap the plot, the more exasperated I become
Sanditon lacks the one thing that defines Austen’s sublime novels: subtlety. The dialogue is as understated as a dowager duchess in full regalia
They tell each other their names so often, they might as well be wearing identity cards around their necks like delegates at a hotel conference.
‘You are about to marry my dearest friend,’ says Georgiana (Crystal Clarke) to Mr Starling (Cai Brigden), as ‘dearest friend’ Charlotte (Rose Williams) smiles and nods, grateful for the reminder.
Georgiana needs a reminder too: ‘In line with your father’s wishes, today you take possession of your inheritance,’ entrepreneur Tom (Kris Marshall) tells her on her 21st birthday. No doubt the fortune had slipped her mind. An obvious explanation is that Georgians, like goldfish, have memories that fade in moments. That’s why, despite all the desperate reiterating, they end up holding grand balls every night, and fall in love with the very people they vowed to hate forever.
One character exists solely as a memory aid. Lady Susan de Clement (Sophie Winkleman, otherwise known as Lady Frederick Windsor and a real-life aristocrat) strolls constantly on the promenade so that other characters can rush up and reveal their news.
Poor Lady Susan, though she clearly lives for gossip, appears to know nothing about anyone. She must be more goldfish than most.
Sanditon lacks the one thing that defines Austen’s sublime novels: subtlety. The dialogue is as understated as a dowager duchess in full regalia, and new plot developments erupt like a coach and horses crashing through the scenery.
Blam! Here’s the eligible bachelor Duke of Buckinghamshire (Edward Davis) stumbling out of a bathing machine on a beach, adjusting his cravat after a fumble with another chap… and blundering straight into Miss Georgiana.
Prrrang! Meet the world’s most irascible tycoon, Rowleigh Pryce (James Bolam), a man with mysterious connections to Lady Denham’s past — causing the great Anne Reid to overact like a French maid in a West End farce.
Almost as antique as Austen was a Talbot coupe built in 1925 and looking, in the showroom of Bangers And Cash (Yesterday) as shiny as the day it rolled off the production line
Kerr-unch! Here’s Alexander Vlahos as the louche Charles Lockhart esq, gatecrashing the ball and shouting, ‘Stop the music!’ before announcing that it is he, yes he who is the true heir to the young lady’s fortune.
Sanditon was cancelled after its first series on ITV but rescued by the U.S. cable channel PBS Masterpiece (the Americans do like a bit of bonnet drama). It certainly looks lavish, with that starry cast, the CGI landscapes and beautifully-composed candlelit scenes. But it does leave you feeling like you’re swimming in circles.
Almost as antique as Austen was a Talbot coupe built in 1925 and looking, in the showroom of Bangers And Cash (Yesterday) as shiny as the day it rolled off the production line. This episode was the first of a fresh series, and also featured a convertible VW Golf and a 1961 Facel Vega – but to most viewers, whether the show is new or repeated is irrelevant.
The format is unchanging: auctioneer Derek Mathewson collects a couple of classic cars, gives them a shine and sells them on. It’s unmemorable, yet always enjoyable… the Georgians would have loved it. Such a shame they didn’t have cars.
