Unfinished Jane Austen Novel to be Adapted for Television

Jane Austen’s final novel, which has sat unfinished since her death is to be turned into a ‘lavish’ new drama series for ITV. The eleven chapter Sanditon is based along the themes she was best known for writing about, class divides, ambition, power play and matters of the heart and will be turned into an eight-part series made up of 60-minute episodes.

Those who are already aware of the unfinished novel may know something about it, the novel spans London to the West Indies and was written shortly before Austen’s death in 1817.

ITV’s head of drama, Polly Hill has commissioned the series along with London based television production company Red Planet Pictures, who previously worked on Dickensian and other period dramas.

Sanditon follows the story of Charlotte Heywood and her tumultuous (in true Austen style) relationship with the charming Sidney Parker. Just eleven chapters exist but producers will be extending Austen’s original story into a full length drama.

As expected from anything written by Austen you can expect the hallmark strong women, biting social commentary, along with themes of class, power plays and ambition.

Although there’s no release date yet, production is likely to start on the drama soon, and while it’s being made for ITV, it looks likely that American viewers will be able to catch up on Austen’s final story on PBS.