Death Comes to Pemberley (TV series)

Death Comes to Pemberley is a three-part British television drama based on the best-selling 2011 P. D. James novel of the same name. Her murder mystery was based on the style and characters of Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice.

The series was commissioned by Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning Ben Stephenson and then-Controller of BBC One Danny Cohen, and was first broadcast from 26 to 28 December 2013 on BBC One.

Premise
It is June 1803, six years after the marriage of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet, as recounted in Pride and Prejudice. One evening, George Wickham and his wife Lydia (Elizabeth's sister) are travelling by carriage to Pemberley for a ball with Captain Denny. Wickham and Denny have an argument, and leave the carriage in anger. The two men disappear into the woodland, where Lydia hears two gunshots. After being informed, Darcy sends out a search party, who find Wickham distraught and hysterical, holding Denny's body and blaming himself for his murder.

Cast

 * Matthew Rhys as Fitzwilliam Darcy
 * Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth Darcy
 * Jenna Coleman as Lydia Wickham
 * Matthew Goode as George Wickham
 * Trevor Eve as Sir Selwyn Hardcastle
 * Alexandra Moen as Jane Bingley
 * Rebecca Front as Mrs Bennet
 * James Fleet as Mr Bennet
 * Penelope Keith as Lady Catherine de Bourgh
 * Joanna Scanlan as Mrs Reynolds
 * Tom Ward as Colonel Fitzwilliam
 * Eleanor Tomlinson as Georgiana Darcy
 * James Norton as Mr Henry Alveston
 * Nichola Burley as Louisa Bidwell
 * Philip Martin Brown as Mr Bidwell
 * Kevin Eldon as Dr McFee
 * Jennifer Hennessy as Mrs Bidwell
 * Lewis Rainer as Will Bidwell
 * Mariah Gale as Mrs Younge
 * Teresa Churcher as Mrs Piggott
 * Tom Canton as Captain Martin Denny
 * Oliver Maltman as George Pratt
 * David Blockley as Footman

Casting
The cast was announced on 18 June 2013. The series was cast by Gary Davy. Actor Tom Ward, who plays Colonel Fitzwilliam, is the only cast member to have previously played a role in an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. He played Lt Chamberlayne in the 1995 BBC adaptation.

Filming
Filming began in June 2013 on location in Yorkshire and Derbyshire and has been supported with investment from Screen Yorkshire. Chatsworth House in Derbyshire was used as the exterior of Pemberley, and rooms at Chatsworth and at Castle Howard and Harewood House, both in Yorkshire, were used for indoor scenes. Areas of National Trust land, including Hardcastle Crags, Fountains Abbey and the Studley Royal estate and Treasurer's House, were also used in filming. Beverley's Guildhall provided the location for a courtroom. The gallows scenes were filmed on a purpose-built scaffold outside York Crown Court, with Wickham emerging from the gate to the old debtors' prison in the York Museum.

Reception
The Guardian described the tone of the first episode as respectful of Austen's original, but "not afraid to stand out and be its own very different thing as well", describing it as a "mashup" between period drama and Agatha Christie or Midsomer Murders. A later Guardian review described the series as "pretty much perfect Christmas TV", praising the appearance of the series and the "satisfying plot". Lina Talbot, writing for The Independent, praised the casting of Mr and Mrs Bennet. The Radio Times praised the production values of the piece, and noted that they were supported by a "meaty" plot.