Fresh production of 'Persuasion' launches Austen series on PBS

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The latest movie based on a Jane Austen novel, "Persuasion," offers all the smoldering, just-barely-beneath-the-surface emotions Austen fans have come to expect.Anne Elliot (Sally Hawkins), a spinster at age 27, still regrets that she was persuaded by family members to refuse the proposal of Capt. Wentworth (Rupert Penry-Jones, "MI-5") eight years earlier. She's especially upset when he re-enters her life and reminds her that she spurned his affections."What I desire above all in a wife is firmness of character, a woman who knows her own mind," Wentworth says during a large dinner gathering. "I cannot abide timidity or feebleness of purpose. A weak spirit which is always open to persuasion, first one way and then another, cannot be relied upon."Ouch.But Austen fans also know love will find a way, despite roadblocks that seem impossible to overcome. So it is with PBS's long-running "Masterpiece Theatre," which presents "Persuasion" (at 9 p.m. EST Sunday) and has been sponsorless for about four years. "Masterpiece" continues to receive funding from PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and appears not to be in imminent danger of going off the air.But the PBS mainstay is "having some work done," explained "Masterpiece" executive producer Rebecca Eaton at a PBS press conference last July. How much work? Well, it's losing half its name."Masterpiece Theatre" is now simply "Masterpiece," but it has also become a triune series with "Masterpiece Classic" (all the drawing-room programs, like the Austen adaptations) airing in winter and spring, "Masterpiece Mystery!" (the former, separate series "Mystery!") airing in summer and "Masterpiece Contemporary" (more modern dramas) set for fall.In addition, "Masterpiece Classic" has a new host, former "X-Files" star Gillian Anderson, who played a role in the "Masterpiece" production of "Bleak House." Hosts for "Masterpiece Mystery!" and "Masterpiece Contemporary" have not yet been announced."The programming won't change," Eaton promised. It's just packaged differently.The first evidence of the makeover arrives with "Persuasion," just one piece of "The Complete Jane Austen," new and classic films based on all six Austen novels that will air between now and April (with four weeks off during PBS's pledge period).The two classic productions that will air are the Colin Firth-starring "Pride and Prejudice" miniseries and Kate Beckinsale's "Emma." New productions include "Persuasion," "Northanger Abbey," "Mansfield Park" and "Sense and Sensibility." In addition, the biopic "Miss Austen Regrets" will tell the story of Austen's life. Eaton says this rendition is "closer to the truth and more complicated" than the recent big-screen bio "Becoming Jane."Andrew Davies, the acclaimed British screenwriter who adapted four of the six "Masterpiece" Austen films, said the author remains popular because her love stories are timeless."The basic stories are in all kinds of trashy romantic novels: Young girl who has disadvantages, things in her way, gets a man who's sort of probably rich, handsome, loving, etc," he said. "Within that, though, Jane Austen manages to do it in a way that doesn't insult our intelligence. It's witty. It's ingenious. The plots are believable. The obstacles seem real and at the outset insurmountable. You get surprises. You get reversals. She's technically just such a brilliant writer in terms of pacing and plotting. And that's just something that never goes out of date."Committing Austen's stories to film, however, can be somewhat less than romantic. In the new "Sense and Sensibility," Davies added a falconry scene to show Col. Brandon (David Morrissey, "Viva Blackpool!") with a hawk that lands on his fist."He strokes its feathers gently ... and we understand that he has both strength and tenderness," Davies said. But filming the scene was anything but tender."In order to get a hawk to fly onto my hand, I had to hold a small, dead chick," Morrissey recalled. "So it's all very romantic: The hawk flies into my hand, and Marianne (a character) walks over to me and looks lovingly. But in the middle of it, this hawk is just ripping this chick's head off. There's this cascade of feathers around us. I think they sort of edited that out."As in the famous author's stories, the path may not be smooth, but the end result will still make Austen fans swoon.THE JANE AUSTEN LINEUP ON PBS (9 p.m. Sundays)"Persuasion" (Jan. 13, 90 minutes)"Northanger Abbey" (Jan. 20, 90 minutes)"Mansfield Park" (Jan. 27, 90 minutes)"Miss Austen Regrets" (Feb. 3, 90 minutes)"Pride and Prejudice" (Feb. 10, 17 and 24, two hours each night)"Emma" (March 23, 107 minutes)"Sense and Sensibility" (March 30 and April 6, 90 minutes each night)(Rob Owen can be reached at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)