PBS' Sanditon starts off great, but Jane Austen fans will find themselves taken aback by the finale choices

Vulture

"The vast majority of Sanditon, a new Jane Austen adaptation debuting this Sunday on PBS’s Masterpiece, will fulfill everything you could ever want in a miniseries version of an Austen novel. It’s an exquisite production, both beautiful and thoughtful," says Kathryn VanArendonk. "It’s adapted in ways that feel smart and human, while also pumping some helpful friction into the story. Then, at the end, Sanditon makes choices that will leave most viewers feeling, at best, extremely perplexed. At worst, it may feel like a betrayal."

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• Sanditon is perfect escapist fare: "Let’s put aside period-appropriate mores for a moment and the hagiography of the original text," says Ann Donahue. "The spirit of Sanditon is beachy escapism, and this version offers a swoony take that should enrapture modern audiences."
• Sanditon is really screenwriter Andrew Davies' baby "that is merely Austenesque"
• Andrew Davies on adapting Jane Austen's Sanditon: "Making up the story is not really my strongest point, so I was a bit worried whether I’d be able to generate enough plot."
• Crystal Clarke on playing Georgiana Lambe, Austen's only black character: “When I first got the script, my initial expectation was that this would be another black character who is a servant or something,” says Clarke. “What I got was the exact opposite, a real effort to represent someone in a very difficult situation at the time. Jane Austen was clearly very aware of the slave trade, and the issue isn’t avoided in Andrew’s script.”