Northanger Abbey (2007 TV Drama) - Reception

Reception

Upon its first broadcast in the United Kingdom, Northanger Abbey was viewed by 5.6 million people and had a 26.6% audience share. This made it the second most popular of the adaptations, behind Mansfield Park. 931,000 Australians watched the drama when it aired on ABC1 in June 2008. Northanger Abbey garnered mostly positive reviews from critics. Shortly before it aired in the UK, reporters for four newspaper publications selected the drama as their "Pick of the Day." Jade Wright of the Liverpool Echo thought the adaptation had showed "a good-natured and frank Catherine", with Jones managing to "combine humility and humour with perfect aplomb." Wright praised the decision to cast Mulligan and said the actress "shone" as Isabella. A The Guardian reporter included Northanger Abbey in their feature on the week's television highlights, saying "Yes, yes, more Austin, but Andrew Davies' adaptation of one of her lighter novels is the perfect Sunday evening blend of eruditeness and pretty frocks."

The Sydney Morning Herald's Lenny Ann Low also praised the cast and their performances, stating "Lush with straining bosoms, knowing looks and segments bringing Morland's wild dreams and fantasies to life, Northanger Abbey is well cast. Felicity Jones catches Morland's mix of youthful naivety, heart-whole feelings and mindful beliefs perfectly and J.J. Feild, as the dishy but sensible Tilney, grows in appeal as this feature-length drama builds to a climax." Low's colleague, Joyce Morgan later selected Northanger Abbey as one of the week's best television programmes. However, Ruth Ritchie, writing for the same newspaper, stated that the makers of the adaptation tried "desperately to create an air of mystery about the dastardly deeds at Northanger Abbey," but the audience knew it was about as scary as "a ninja turtle." Ritchie likened the ITV Austen adaptations to a "Posh Country Home and Away." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times wrote "Northanger Abbey the novel was as fun as it gets for Austen, and the television film quite lives up to the same standard."

Ginia Bellafante, a critic for The New York Times, proclaimed the drama gave the audience "innocent faces and heaving breasts, hyperbolizing the sex that always lurks beneath the surface of Austen's astringent presence." She went on to say Northanger Abbey was made to be a television movie and commented that it was more fun than the book. The San Francisco Chronicle's David Wiegand wrote "Persuasion is a bigger challenge to try to squeeze into 90 minutes, the real difference between that film and Northanger is the latter's consistency of high-quality performances, a careful and attentive adaptation by Andrew Davies and solid direction by Jon Jones." Writing for The Daily Telegraph, James Walton observed "Northanger Abbey was a perfectly acceptable costume drama – but not one that ever really caught fire." Simon Hoggart, writing for The Spectator, commented that Davies's adaptation of Northanger Abbey "was much bolder and more confident than Mansfield Park the week before."

The Hollywood Reporter's Ray Bennett praised Northanger Abbey, calling it "a wonderfully evocative version", which was "written with flair and imagination by Andrew Davies". He proclaimed "Capturing vividly the flush and wonder of adolescence, the film mines Austen's first-written but last-published novel to find purest nuggets of wit, romance and social satire. The story's 18th-century heroine, Catherine Morland, has a fevered imagination and Davies draws on Austen's droll illustrations of it to create scenes of gothic adventure." Bennett added "the film is shot beautifully by Ciarán Tanham while composer Charlie Mole's score adds to the quickening pace of Catherine's fantasies." For his work on Northanger Abbey, cinematographer Tanham was nominated for Best Director of Photography at the 5th Irish Film and Television Awards.