winter approaches stateowned broadcaster abc decided reason partial jane austen festival sunday nights commenced twelveyear old movie length version emma last sunday recent versions three novels persuasion northanger abbey mansfield park comebr br the curious thing production ae television networks script everreliable andrew davies appeared almost simultaneously two much bigger budget movie versions one starring gwyneth paltrow clueless modernized version starring alicia silverstone transported plot beverly hills perhaps result even kate beckinsale lead production sank without tracebr br as general rule much lost novels shrunk fit feature movie length adaptations one tends enjoy remember adequate room develop story characters outstanding example brideshead revisited  minute episodes back  compare ordinary movielength version pride prejudice  brilliant  sixpart tv miniseries novel filmed page page novels often good ones adapt wonderfully film atonement recent example novels jane austen sort need time space exert full charmbr br given shortcomings type adaptation production ok kate beckinsale gives emma right mix selfassuredness vulnerability mark strong forthright mr knightly he reminded jane tended recycle characters knightly articulate version moody mr darcy pp samantha morton rather limp harriet prunella scales got blabbermouth miss bates perfectly sybil fawlty speed bernard hepton emmas feeble father also excellent saw damp countryside mud poverty well posh interiors case anyone thought particularly idyllic age everybodybr br even though condensed adaptation oddly slow places conversations rather stilted even allowing formalities times id look film sure might due underuse reaction shotsbr br if like filmed period stuff perfectly nice example compares well paltrow version anyway come