Pemberley
Pemberley is the fictional country estate owned by Fitzwilliam Darcy, the male protagonist in Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice". It is located near the fictional town of Lambton, and believed by some to be based on Chatsworth House, near Bakewell in Derbyshire.
Colin Firth
Firth finally became a household name through his role as the aloof and haughty aristocrat Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". He was producer Sue Birtwistle's first choice for the part, eventually being persuaded to take it despite initial reluctance as he was unfamiliar with Austen's writing. Firth and co-star Jennifer Ehle began a romantic relationship during the filming of the series, which only received media attention after the couple's separation. Sheila Johnston wrote that Firth's approach to the part "lent Darcy complex shades of coldness, even caddishness, in the early episodes." The series was an international success and unexpectedly elevated Firth to stardom, in some part due to an iconic scene in which he emerged in a wet shirt after swimming. 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 not to be associated with "Pride and Prejudice" forever. He was, therefore, reluctant to accept similar roles and risk becoming typecast. For a time, it did seem as if Mr. Darcy would overshadow the rest of his career, and there were humorous allusions to the role in his next five movies. The most notable of these was the casting of Firth as love interest Mark Darcy in the film adaptation of "Bridget Jones's Diary", itself a modern-day retelling of "Pride and Prejudice". Firth accepted the part as he saw it as an opportunity to lampoon his Mr. Darcy character. The film was very successful and critically well-liked. A in 2004 was mostly panned by critics but was still financially successful. Firth had a supporting role in "The English Patient" (1996) playing the husband of Kristin Scott Thomas's character, whose jealousy about her adultery leads to both their deaths. He had parts in light romantic period pieces such as "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), "Relative Values" (2000), and "The Importance of Being Earnest" (2002). He appeared in several television productions, including "Donovan Quick" (an updated version of "Don Quixote") (1999) and had a more serious and villainous role as Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart in "Conspiracy" (2001), concerning the Nazi Wannsee Conference; Firth was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his role.