Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV Series) - Influence and Legacy

Influence and Legacy

As one of the BBC's and A&E's most popular presentations ever, the serial was "a cultural phenomenon, inspiring hundreds of newspaper articles and making the novel a commuter favourite". With the 1995 and 1996 films Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility and Emma, the serial was part of an Jane Austen fashion which caused the membership of the Jane Austen Society of North America to jump fifty percent in 1996 and to over 4,000 members in the autumn of 1997. Some newspapers like The Wall Street Journal explained this "Austen-mania" as a commercial move of the television and film industry, whereas others attributed Austen's popularity to escapism.

While Jennifer Ehle refused to capitalise on the success of the serial and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, the role of Mr. Darcy unexpectedly elevated Colin Firth to stardom. Although Firth did not mind being recognised as "a romantic idol as a Darcy with smouldering sex appeal" in a role that "officially turned him into a heart-throb", he expressed the wish to not be associated with Pride and Prejudice forever and was reluctant to accept the same role. He took on diverse roles and co-starred in productions such as The English Patient (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), Love Actually (2003) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004).

Pride and Prejudice continued to be honoured years later. A 2000 poll of industry professionals conducted by the British Film Institute ranked the serial at 99 in the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, which the BFI attributed to it "managing to combine faithfulness to the novel with a freshness that appealed across the generations". Radio Times included the serial in their list of "40 greatest TV programmes ever made" in 2003. In 2007, the UK Film Council declared Pride and Prejudice one of the television dramas that have become "virtual brochures" for British history and society. Lyme Hall, Cheshire, which had served as the exterior of Pemberley, experienced a tripling in its visitor numbers after the series' broadcast and is still a popular travel destination. It was also named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the 20 best miniseries of all time.