38 h. ago It's Bath time! Roman ruins, ginormous bunns and a Jane Austen tour: How to spend a day in the historical city

Thanks to its Roman ruins, ginormous bunns and this year marking the 250th birthday of Jane Austen, the city was the perfect choice for Team YOU's latest day out

Politics

3 d. ago Pride and Prejudice gets a starry makeover as Marisa Abela, Harris Dickinson and Glenn Close lead all

Forget screen credits - some of Britain's biggest stars are lending their voices to a new audio adaptation of Pride and Prejudice to mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth.

Politics

4 d. ago Marisa Abela and Harris Dickinson star in Audible Pride And Prejudice adaption

The Audible adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel will also feature performances by Glenn Close and Bill Nighy.

Politics

6 d. ago BBC's latest TV series release is a 'must watch' for Jane Austen lovers

This three-part series celebrates the life and legacy of Jane Austen and is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer

Culture

6 d. ago All Creatures Great and Small star shares new BBC series available to stream now

Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius was released at the end of May on BBC Two, with each episode being brought to life by a plethora of contributions.

Politics

8 d. ago Beautiful hidden gem London hotel where celebrities stay and with fascinating past

OK! checked in to Henry's Townhouse in London's Marylebone, once the home of Jane Austen's brother and which has been transformed into a stunning boutique hotel

Politics

8 d. ago Beautiful hidden gem London hotel loved by celebrities and with fascinating past

OK! checked in to Henry's Townhouse in London's Marylebone, once the home of Jane Austen's brother and which has been transformed into a stunning boutique hotel

Politics

9 d. ago As a Muslim girl in Bradford, I saw my story in Jane Austen’s novels. Now I’ve directed a TV series about her | Ali Naushahi

I soaked up her sharp insights into class, gender and power. Reading more about her life, the parallels between us became clearI grew up as the daughter of an imam in a conservative British-Pakistani community in Bradford. Our early years were spent in a large Victorian terrace owned by the local mosque council. When my father was replaced, we downsized overnight to a much smaller house on the other side of town. The loss of a beloved home, close friends and community was a deeply disorienting experience.Decades later, directing the new BBC series Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius, I found myself thinking back to that time. On the surface, my life and Jane Austen’s couldn’t be more different – an English novelist born in the 18th century and a working-class British-Pakistani woman. Austen’s novels had always resonated with me when I read them as a girl. But learning more about her life as part of my director’s prep, I realised just how many shared realities we had. I saw how similar Aus...

Culture

9 d. ago ‘All of us felt like we had touched gold’: What It Feels Like for a Girl, the BBC’s electric coming

Paris Lees has turned her hit memoir of growing up as a working-class trans kid into a vivid, joyful drama. Its team talks teenage sex work, nostalgia for Tony Blair, and why TV drama is so posh it’s like Jane AustenWhen the BBC was casting its adaptation of Paris Lees’s autobiography, What It Feels Like for a Girl, it wasn’t the only one wrestling with how to find the right actor to play the lead in a biopic. “Cher did an interview,” smiles Lees, “and she said: ‘We just can’t find somebody that’s Cher.’ I was like: ‘Same, girl. I hear your struggles.’ So me and Cher have been going through it.” Sitting next to Lees is the actor they went with, Ellis Howard, who you may remember as the sapling Ivan VI in HBO series Catherine the Great, but who you will never have seen being this luminous.“In the beginning, we were looking for a trans person,” Lees says. She and Howard are sharing a Zoom screen, and it’s not so much that they look similar as that they both look so cinematic, the...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Not everybody spoke posh’ in Jane Austen’s era, says top producer

Jane Tranter’s The Other Bennet Sister will ditch the ‘fetishisation’ of period drama to draw viewers into the novelist’s worldFor those looking to perfect their pronunciation, British period dramas are a masterclass in getting to grips with the King’s English.But – if the wishes of one TV heavyweight come to fruition – future iterations of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and other classics could adopt a more modern, less well-spoken twang. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Imagine being the nitwit publisher who rejected Jane Austen's work! CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV

The list of hapless nitwits who rejected megastars-to-be is a long one, but none blundered more badly than Thomas Cadell, writes Christopher Stevens.

Politics

1 week ago Imagine being the nitwit publisher who rejected Jane Austen's work! CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV

The list of hapless nitwits who rejected megastars-to-be is a long one, but none blundered more badly than Thomas Cadell, writes Christopher Stevens.

Politics

2 w. ago Andrew Hunter Murray: ‘Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I find more jokes’

The author and podcaster on taking inspiration from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, welling up to Charles Dickens, and the enduring appeal of Jane AustenMy earliest reading memoryAt a secondhand book sale at school, a kind teacher recommended my mum buy Brian Jacques’s Redwall. Noble monastic mice battle thuggish rats: catnip for a seven-year-old.My favourite book growing upThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The mad robots and two-headed aliens are great for the teenage brain, but beneath all that is the sadness, and the questions about why life has to be like this, all filtered through poor Arthur Dent. I sometimes pull it off the shelf to read half a page, just to remind myself how comedy writing is done. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago UK’s largest Lee Miller retrospective to be held at Tate Britain

Exhibition will showcase her entire career, from French surrealism to fashion and war photographyThe UK’s largest retrospective of the American photographer and photojournalist Lee Miller, who produced some of the most renowned images of the modern era, will take place at Tate Britain this autumn.The exhibition will showcase the entirety of Miller’s career, from her participation in French surrealism to her fashion and war photography. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Bomb squad called to primary school after boy brings grenade to assembly

The incident took place in Derbyshire, when the youngster unexpectedly produced the WWII era explosive, prompting a full evacuation of the school

Events

3 w. ago Lucy Worsley fears that women’s rights haven’t improved enough since Austen’s time

Although this year marks 250 years since the novelist’s birth, women are still on the hunt for financially eligible bachelors

Politics

3 w. ago 'A modern day Jane Austen': The best Literary Fiction out now

Claire Allfree reviews the best Literary Fiction out now.

Politics