Join ITV3 as it steps behind the scenes into the world of Jane Austen, in Lost in Austen Behind the scenes.

With access all areas to stars including Jemima Rooper (Amanda Price), Alex Kingston (Mrs Bennet), Hugh Bonnevillle (Mr Bennet) and Lindsay Duncan (Lady Catherine De Bourgh), viewers will exclusively see how the cast were transported back in time to the 19^th Century.

“This was such a joy to read,” says Jemima Rooper, “the more I read, the more I kept thinking, this is my part, this is my part, I must get this, which is terrifying when you’re auditioning for it, but I just absolutely fell in love with it, which I think everyone, unanimously on this whole job, would agree with, it’s a beautiful script.”

Throughout last autumn Daisybeck Productions spent weeks on location in North Yorkshire in the grounds of Harewood House, Bramham Park and Weston Park. Wherever the ITV1 film crew set up camp, their cameras followed to capture the highlights of Lost in Austen.

On a crisp morning in October, the team filmed the classic moment when Mr Darcy, played by Elliot Cowan, wades out of the lake, but this time towards Amanda Price. “I realised what an interesting, deep and conflicted character he was on some levels, “ says Elliot, “and I wanted to try and get my teeth into some of that in a new way.”

When the behind the scenes crew visited Bramham Park, the ballroom was lit with candles as the extras danced and the musicians played. With the make up artists and costume designers on set since half past five that morning, and the filming crew who are working to a tight schedule, Hugh Bonneville who plays Mr Bennet says:

“It’s a lot more complicated logistically to shoot a period piece. I love all forms of visual entertainment, so long as the scripts are good and this one is.”

During the programme we also catch up with the production designer, Michael Pickwoad, who reveals how he transformed a derelict country house into the Bennet’s family home with a small budget and a good deal of imagination and we meet the armourer who taught Guy Henry (Mr Collins) to shoot an antique shotgun.

Lost in Austen Behind the Scenes is a Daisybeck Production for ITV3 produced by Cathy Parnell.

A surge in TV and film production in Yorkshire means we’re set to see more of the region showcased on the big and small screen. Leeds City Markets were transformed into London’s Hammersmith underground station during the filming of upcoming ITV drama, Lost in Austen. The production team used some of Yorkshire’s most stunning locations including Bramham Park, Wetherby and York to portray the contrast between the period of Pride and Prejudice and modern day city life.

An ingenious reinvention of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Lost in Austen sees the ‘true’ story thrown off track by a very modern heroine, Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper). Disillusioned with her life in London and disenchanted with her boyfriend, Amanda Price discovers Elizabeth Bennet (Gemma Arterton) in her bathroom. Amanda swaps places with Elizabeth and takes centre stage in the celebrated love story.

Lost in Austen is made by Mammoth Screen, the independent production company set up by former ITV drama executives Michele Buck and Damien Timmer. The four part series for ITV is written by acclaimed television writer Guy Andrews (Chancer, Prime Suspect, Absolute Power and Lewis) and features an all-star cast including Alex Kingston (ER), Jemima Rooper and veteran actor Hugh Bonneville.

Regional screen agency Screen Yorkshire invested in Lost in Austen through its Production Fund and secured jobs for a number of regional trainees. The production liaison team were instrumental in attracting the drama to the region and ensured filming could go ahead without a hitch by negotiating filming permissions with local authorities and police.

Yorkshire has a long standing reputation for television production, home to ITV Yorkshire and well-established dramas such as Heartbeat, The Royal and Emmerdale, but recent years have witnessed an increase in incoming film and television production. A critical mass of home-grown production has generated a strong infrastructure of highly skilled crew and facilities houses, including Film Lab North – England’s only film lab outside London to provide super 16 and 35mm development at a single location. Screen Yorkshire has recently launched its Film Friendly Partnership to support local authorities to get the maximum benefits from incoming production as well as ensuring that production companies have a positive experience of filming here.

Hugo Heppell, Head of Production at Screen Yorkshire says:

”Bringing high quality and popular drama such as ’Lost in Austen’ to the region is critical to building a sustainable industry here. We’re working hard to build long term relationships with drama producers so we can continue to benefit from the jobs, investment and long term impact on tourism that drama production can bring. Yorkshire has a long and successful track record in film and television production and companies are attracted by the strong infrastructure, diversity of locations, comparatively low production costs and the positive filming experience they have here.”

JEMIMA ROOPER plays Amanda Price

Television: Life Line; Time Of Your Life; Random Quest; Perfect Days; Silent Witness; Synchronicity; Sugar Rush; HEX; The Brief; As If; Midsomer Murders; Love In A Cold Climate; Urban Gothic; Junk; The Passion; Famous Five; The Railway Children; Heatwave; Lifeforce; Summer In The Suburbs; Wives And Daughters; Animal Ark .

Film: The Black Dahlia; Kinky Boots; A Sound Of Thunder; Snapshots; Owd Bob; Willy’s War; The Higher Mortals.

Theatre: Her Naked Skin; A Respectable Wedding; The Play’s The Thing; Us And Them; Do We Live; New Writers Fest; Oscar.

ELLIOT COWAN plays Mr Darcy

Television: Ruby In The Smoke; The Mark of Cain; Poirot; Secret Of The Rosetta Stone; Foyle’s War; The Project; Ultimate Force; Rescue Me; Jonathan Creek; Crims; Judge John Deed; It’s A Girl Thing; Chillers.

Film: The Golden Compass; Mike Leigh; Jonathan Toomey; Love And Other Disasters; Alexander; After Berlin.

Theatre: The Revenger’s Tragedy; Henry V; Frost/Nixon; Women Beware Women; Don Carlos; Flush; The Seagull; Camille; Life Of Galileo.

HUGH BONNEVILLE plays Mr Bennet

Television: Bonekickers; Miss Austen Regrets; Mary Whitehouse; Diary Of A Nobody; Freezing; The Vicar Of Dibley; Five Days; Aftermath; Beau Brummell; Courting Alex;; The Robinson; Hear The Silence; The Commander; Love Again; Tipping The Velvet; The Gathering Storm; Dr Zhivago; Daniel Deronda; Wren; Take A Girl Like You; La Camera.

Film: Shanghai; Hippie Hippie Shake; Knife Edge; French Film; Scenes Of A Sexual Nature; Four Last Songs; Man To Man; Piccadilly Jim; Underclassman; Asylum; Stage Beauty; Iris; Conspiracy Of Silence; The Emperor’s New Clothes; High Heels; The Biographer; Blow Dry; Mansfield Park; Notting Hill; Tomorrow Never Dies; Frankenstein.

ALEX KINGSTON plays Mrs Bennet

Television: Doctor Who; Freezing; Without A Trace; Boudica; The Poseidon Adventure; ER; Moll Flanders; I Hate Christmas; The Knock; The Bill; Crocodile Shoes; Soldier Soldier; Covington Cross; Foreign Affairs; Wanted – Marjorie And Oliver; Henry’s Leg; Hannay; A Killing On The Exchange.

Film: Alpha Dog; Sweet Land; Essex Boys; Weapons Of Mass Distraction; The Croupier; In Hitler’s Shadow; The St. Expurry Story; Carrington; The Woman And The Wolf; A Pin For The Butterfly; The Wildcats Of St. Trinians; The Cook, The Theif, His Wife And Her Lover.

Theatre: One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest; Morning And Evening; Darwins Flood; Othello; A Midsummer Nights Dream; Bad Blood; The Bright And Bold Design; The Curse Of The Starving Class; Love’s Labours Lost; King Lear; Much Ado About Nothing; The Tutor; The Idiot; Tis A Pity She’s A Whore; The Country Wife; French Without Tears; See How They Run; Julius Caesar; Saved; Travelling Players; The Alchemist.

GEMMA ARTERTON plays Elizabeth Bennet

Television: Capturing Mary.

Film: Quantum Of Solace; The Boat That Rocked; Three And Out; Rock ’n Rolla; St Trinians.

Theatre: Love’s Labour Lost; Duck Hunting; The Girl On The Sofa; An Ideal Husband; Fanny’s First Play; Philaster; The Ash Girl; The Beggar’s Opera; Alcestis; Faust; The Good Doctor; Titus Andronicus; Bloody Poetry; Guiding Star.

MORVEN CHRISTIE plays Jane Bennet

Television: Harley Street; Oliver Twist; Sold; Homeboy; The Family Man; Breaking News; Teachers; Quite Ugly One Morning; Doctors; The Second Quest.

Film: Young Victoria; The Flying Scotsman; House Of Nine; Digital.

Theatre: Romeo & Juliet; Much Ado About Nothing; King John; When You Cure Me; Festen.

RUBY BENTALL plays Mary Bennet

Television: New Tricks; Oliver Twist; Doctors; You Can Choose Your Friends; Holby City; Secret Life Of The Family.

Theatre: The Miracle; DNA; Shoot/ Get Treasure/ Repeat; Jack And The Beanstalk; Aunt Dan And Lemon.

FLORENCE HOATH plays Kitty

Television: Cazelet Chronicles; Dr Who; Family Affairs; Miss Marple; Goodbye Mr Chips; Just Girls; Red Cap; The Demon Headmaster.

Film: Fairy Tale: A True Story; Innocent Lies; Muraska; Return Of The Secret Garden; Secret Rapture; The Governess; The Haunting Of Helen Walker; Tom’s Midnight Garden.

Theatre: Equus; Miniatures; The Secret Trials Of Effie Gray.

PERDITA WEEKS plays Lydia Bennet

Television: The Tudors; The Wild One; The Return Of Sherlock Holmes; Midsomer Murders; Stig Of The Dump; The Prince And The Pauper; Rag Nymph; Ghosts: The Shadowy Third; Google Eyes.

Film: Spiceworld: The Movie; Hamlet; El Ultimo Viaje De Robert Rylands; Loving; In Cold Light Of Day.

Theatre: Blanco Posnet; A Midsummer Nights Dream.

LINDSAY DUNCAN plays Lady Catherine

Television: Frankenstein; Rome; Longford; Spooks; Poirot; The Mystery Of The Blue Train; Perfect Strangers; Dirty Tricks; Oliver Twist; Shooting The Past; The History Of Tom Jones; Get Real; Just William; Jake’s Progress; The Rector’s Wife; A Year In Provence; Redemption; The Childeater; Traffik; G.B.H; One Upmanship; Grown Ups; On Approval; Rainy Day Women; Tecx; New Girl In Town; The Winkler; Muck And Brass; Kit Curran Show; Reilly Ace Of Spies.

Film: Starter For Ten; The Queen Of Sheba’s Pearls; Afterlife; Under The Tuscan Sun; Mansfield Park; An Ideal Husband; A Midsummer’s Night Dream; City Hall; The Greek Myths; The Reflecting Skin; Prick Up Your Ears; Loose Connections; Samson & Delilah; Manifesto; Body Parts.

Theatre: That Face; Private Lives; Mouth To Mouth; Celebration And The Room; Ashes To Ashes; The Homecoming; A Midsummer Knight’s Dream; The Cryptogram; Three Hotels; Berenice; Cat On A Hot Tin Roof; Plenty; The Provok’d Wife; The Prince Of Homburg; The Merry Wives Of Windsor; Troilus & Cressida; Les Liasons Dangereuse; Top Girls; The Rivals; Zack; Twelfth Night; What The Butler Saw; The Skin Of Our Teeth; The Ordeal Of Gilbert Pinfold; Don Juan 1976; Comings And Goings; 1978; Incidents At Tulse Hill; Hedda Gabler; Julius Ceaser; The Deep Blue Sea; The Recruiting Officer.

GUY HENRY plays Mr Collins

Television: The Trail Of Tony Blair; Extras; Hotel Babylon; Rome II; The Chase; Rome; Trial And Retribution; Colditz; The Young Visitors; Waking The Dead; Foyle’s War; Sword Of Honour; Wings Of Angels; Emma; Family Ties; Young Sherlock.

Film: V For Vendetta; EMR; Bright Young Things; Caught In The Act; Lady Jane; Another Country.

Theatre: Mary Stuart; All’s Well That Ends Well; The Coast Of Utopia; King John; Twelfth Night; Hysteria; Antony And Cleopatra; Volpone; Cymbeline; Henry VIII; The Merry Wives Of Windsor; The Alchemist; The School For Scandal; Hamlet; Bartholomew Fair.

TOM MISON plays Bingley

Television: Belle De Jour; The Amazing Mrs Pritchard; Waste Of Shame.

Film: Venus; Heroes And Villains; L’entente Cordiale; The Mysterious Island; Falling.

Theatre: Les Enfants Du Paradis; The Collection; The Virgin Martyr; Caesar And Pompey; Hamlet; Achidi J’s Final Hours; Comedy Of Errors; The Crossing Path; The Revenge Of The Truth; Time On Fire; The School For Scandal; Cause Celebre; Love’s Labours Lost; Pride And Prejudice; Three Sisters.

CHRISTINA COLE plays Caroline

Television: Sold; Ladies And Gentlemen; Los Duques; Sea Of Souls; Dr Who; Jane Eyre; Hex II; Most Mysterious Murders; Hex; Miss Marple; All About Me; Foyle’s War; He Knew He Was Right; The Project.

Film: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day; God’s Wounds; The Deaths Of Ian; Casino Royale; What A Girl Wants.

Theatre: The Lightning Play; Romeo And Juliet.

TOM RILEY plays Wickham

Television: Casualty 1907; Lewis; Marple: Ordeal By Innocence; Freezing; Casualty 1906; Paparazzi.

Film: Story Of A Century; Return To The House On Haunted Hill; I Want Candy; A Few Days In September.

Theatre: The Vertical Hour; Posh; God Went Out In ’33 Reading; A Respectable Wedding Workshop; Censorship; Victory; The Entertainer; Saved Workshop; Flight 5065; The Woman Before; Devised Workshop; The People’s Temple; North Greenwich; Three Sisters; The Merchant Of Venice; The Recruiting Officer; Iphigenia At Aulis; Dealer’s Choice; A Clockwork Orange; Scenes From An Execution.

MICHELLE DUNCAN plays Charlotte Lucas

Television: Low Winter Sun; Dr Who; Whatever Love Means; Sugar Rush; Sea Of Souls.

Film: The Broken; Atonement; Chosyu Five; Driving Lessons; Sucking Is A Fine Quality In Women And Vacuum Cleaners, Coup De Grace; Into The Mirror.

Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Magic Quest; Time And The Conways; The Burning; The Enchauntit Gairden; Arcadia; The Philanthropist; No Exit; Richard III; Rosenzcrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead; The Glass Menagerie; The Children’s Hour; The Inspector General; Arabian Nights; Whale Music.

PIPPA HAYWOOD plays Frankie

Television: Poirot; Lewis; Fear Stress And Anger; Confessions Of A Diary Secretary; New Tricks; Miss Marple; The Commander; Like Father Like Son; Green Wing; Inspector Lynley Mysteries; The Bill; Love Or Money; Dalziel And Pascoe; Holby City; My Family; Office Gossip; Mike And Angelo; Roger Roger; Goodnight Sweetheart; Tangier Cop; Jonathan Creek; Grown Up’s; Cuts; The Brittas Empire; Headhunters; House of Elliott; Chimera; Boon; Capital City; Shelly; Home James; Brushstrokes; The One Game; The Last Word.

Theatre: Landscape With Weapon; House And Garden; Vortigern; Private Lives; Requiem; A Midsummer Nights Dream; The Winters Tales; Importance Of Being Earnest; Double Double; Black Comedy And The Private Ear; Turkey Time; The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe; The Tempest; The Archbishop’s Ceiling; Harvey; Richard II; Good; The Vosey Inheritance; Rosencrantz & Guilderstern Are Dead; This Happy Breed.

DANIEL PERCIVAL plays Michael

Television: Sinchronicity; Vital Signs; The Golden Hour.

Film: Exodus; Van Wilder 2: The Rise Of Taj.

Theatre: Cymbeline; Hitting Town; 10 Day Of Maize; Days Of Commune; Don Juan Comes Back From The War; Knight Of The Burning Pestle; Love For Love; The Government Inspector; The Rivals; Le Morte D’Arthur; The Resistable Rise Of Arturo UI; The Revengers Tragedy; The Merchant Of Venice; The Wake; Never The Sinner.

GUGU MBATHA RAW plays Pirhana

Television: Bonekickers; Fall Out; Trial And Retribution; Miss Marple; Dr Who; Spooks; Dead Clever; Born Equal; Bad Girls; Vital Signs; Viva Blackpool; Legless; Walk Away And I Stumble; Holby City.

Film: Act Of God; Straigheads.

Theatre: Big White Frog; Romeo & Juliet; Antony And Cleopatra; Car Thieves; As You Like It.

MICHELE BUCK

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

At Mammoth Screen, the newly formed indie with Damien Timmer, Michele Buck is overseeing a number of commissioned projects including the new series of Wuthering Heights for ITV1. Other new projects include The Prisoner – upcoming six hour reinvention of the iconic series for AMC in America and ITV, starring Sir Ian McKellan and Jim Caviezel.

As Controller of Drama, Granada, Michele Buck has overseen dramas for ITV including: Housewife 49 (BAFTA winner), Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Agatha Christie’s Marple (Emmy nominated), Lewis, Walk Away and I Stumble, The Brief, Jericho, William and Mary, The Last Detective and Where The Heart Is.

Michele executive produced the BAFTA & Prix Italia winning Sex Traffic for Channel 4, Dracula and Ballet Shoes for BBC One and Russell T Davies’s Casanova for BBC One and BBC Three.

As Controller of Drama at United Productions, Michele executive produced Alan Bleasdale’s Oliver Twist, The Turn of The Screw, In the Name of Love, Without Motive, Close and True and Night and Day for ITV; Hearts and Bones for BBC One and the Peter Kosminsky film Innocents for Channel 4.

Michele also won an Emmy for the first series of Hornblower, and received Emmy nominations for the second and third series.

Michele started producing at Thames Television, moving to Euston Films, and then on to Central Films, producing Boon, Gone to the Dogs and Peak Practice.

DAMIEN TIMMER

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Damien Timmer set up new drama indie Mammoth Screen with Michele Buck. Upcoming projects include Wuthering Heights for ITV1 and The Prisoner – upcoming six hour reinvention of the iconic series for AMC in America and ITV, starring Sir Ian McKellan and Jim Caviezel

In 2007 Damien executive produced Class Apart for BBC One.

As Head of Drama, Granada, Damien has overseen dramas for ITV including: Housewife 49 (BAFTA winner), Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Agatha Christie’s Marple (Emmy nominated), the Inspector Morse spin off series Lewis, The History of Mr Polly, Walk Away and I Stumble, Whatever Love Means, The Brief, Jericho, Fallen, Daddy’s Girl, London’s Burning and Where The Heart Is.

Damien also executive produced Dracula and Ballet Shoes for BBC One and Russell T Davies’s Casanova for BBC One and BBC Three.

As Executive Producer at United Productions, Damien oversaw Touching Evil, Close and True, Where the Heart Is and Night and Day for ITV, and Hearts and Bones for BBC One.

Damien started his career at Central Films, working as Script Executive on Peak Practice, Inspector Morse, Thieftakers, Kavanagh QC, Cadfael, The Unknown Soldier, Heat Off The Sun, and Frenchman’s Creek. Damien has also produced one thirteen episode series of Peak Practice.

GUY ANDREWS

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER & WRITER

Guy Andrews began his writing career with Tales of Sherwood Forest for Central Television. He then became the lead writer of the drama series Chancer, also made for Central Television. Following its success he wrote five episodes of the second series. Later that year he wrote an original three-part television serial called All Or Nothing At All for Carnival Films/London Weekend Television starring Hugh Laurie.

In 1996 Guy wrote the US Emmy award winning Prime Suspect V for Granada Television, starring Helen Mirren.

Over the last ten years Guy has written or contributed substantially to television projects that include both series of Absolute Power; Poirot: The Mystery of the Blue Train; Poirot: Taken at the Flood; and Lewis: Expiation. For HBO: The Infiltrator starring Oliver Platt and Deadly Voyage, both directed by John Mackenzie. Features that Guy has worked on include: When the Sky Falls and The Lost Son. He has recently written and curated a touring exhibition about architecture.

KATE MCKERRELL

PRODUCER

Prior to producing Lost in Austen, Kate co-produced the pilot and the first series of the Inspector Morse spin off Lewis for ITV1, starring Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox.

Previously she was a script editor at ITV Productions working on Agatha Christie’s Marple; Jericho; William & Mary and The Last Detective.

DAN ZEFF

DIRECTOR

Dan Zeff is a Bafta-award winning director and writer, whose recent credits include Marple: At Bertram’s Hotel (guest-starring Francesca Annis, Martine McCutcheon & Peter Davison) and Doctor Who; Love and Monsters (guest starring Marc Warren and Peter Kay).

In Television Comedy, he has directed the first series of both The Worst Week of My Life and Ideal as well as episodes of Linda Green, At Home with the Braithwaites and Fat Friends.

He started out directing for Childrens Television, winning two Bafta Awards (Coping with Christmas, English Express) and a further nomination (Out of the Ashes)

His writer-director credits include the short films sweetnightgoodheart starring David Tennant, That Sunday starring Alan Cumming and Minnie Driver and Dual Balls. The latter two were nominated for a Bafta Film Award. He is also developing a feature film Project Mustard with Tribeca in New York.

He is currently directing a 90minute drama for the BBC :Consuming Passions inspired by this year’s 100^th anniversary of publishers Mills and Boon.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MICHELE BUCK

DAMIEN TIMMER

WRITER & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER GUY ANDREWS

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR SCREEN YORKSHIRE HUGO HEPPELL

PRODUCER KATE MCKERRELL

DIRECTOR DAN ZEFF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR, MAMMOTH SCREEN REBECCA KEANE

HEAD OF PRODUCTION JON WILLIAMS

LINE PRODUCER BRETT WILSON

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY DAVID HIGGS

PRODUCTION DESIGNER MICHAEL PICKWOAD

COMPOSER CHRISTIAN HENSON

EDITOR – EPISODE 1 PAUL GARRICK

EDITOR – EPISODE 2 & 3 LOIS E BYGRAVE

EDITOR – EPISODE 4 JOHN RICHARDS

HAIR & MAKE UP DESIGNER EMMA SCOTT

COSTUME DESIGNER EMMA ROSENTHAL

CASTING DIRECTOR MAGGIE LUNN

SCRIPT EDITOR LUKE FRANKLIN

CHOREOGRAPHER PAUL HARRIS

SOUND RECORDIST JOHN PEARSON

LOCATIONS MANAGER CHARLIE THOMPSON

ART DIRECTOR ANDY HOLDEN-STOKES

FIRST A.D JONATHAN ECKERSLEY

SECOND A.D’S BEN SWEET

ELAINE MACKENZIE THIRD A.D’S MIKE GALLIVAN

RICHARD HARRIS

PHILL REEVES

COSTUME SUPERVISOR BECKY DAVIES

COSTUME ASSISTANTS LYNDSAY DAVIDSON

DANIELLA PEARMAN

ASSISTANT HAIR DESIGNER PETA DUNSTALL

MAKE UP ARTIST CARLI MATHER

DEBBIE HUDSON

MAIRI MORRISON

SHARON O’BRIEN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR MICHAEL NOBLE

ADDITIONAL MUSIC SIMON WHITESIDE

HISTORICAL ADVISOR JENNY UGLOW

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR JEMIMA THOMAS

CASTING ASSISTANT CAMILLA EVANS

EDIT ASSISTANT JASON RAYTON

SERKAN NIHAT

PROP MASTER BOB ORR

HEAD OF PROGRAMME PUBLICITY JANICE TROUP

ASSISTANT PUBLICIST NATASHA BAYFORD

PICTURE EDITOR DAWN COMBER

PHOTOGRAPHERS RACHEL JOSEPH

HELEN TURTON

 

A pub car park by the A1 is a far cry from the glamour of Hollywood.

But that was where ER star Alex Kingston found herself this week filming a new version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Lost in Austen is the 1813 classic with a twist as a modern-day heroine Amanda Price swaps places with main character Elizabeth Bennet to compete for dashing Mr Darcy’s affections.

Makers Mammoth Screen have used locations across Leeds and Harrogate, including Harewood House, Weeton Church near Otley and Allerton Castle just off the A1 to shoot the four-part costume drama for ITV.

Its star-studded cast includes Alex as Mrs Bennet, Hugh Bonneville as her husband, Gemma Arterton as their daughter Elizabeth and former Hex actress Jemima Rooper as new character Amanda Price.

Alex, who also starred in the BBC’s Moll Flanders, spoke to the YEP sat in the top deck of a catering bus parked next to a pub near Allerton Castle.

The mum-of-one said: “I’ve been up here before when I shot Moll Flanders.

“It’s lovely to see how many stately homes are still usable and haven’t been turned into apartments.

This is my fifth week of shooting and I’m staying in Leeds. I’d never been to the city before and I really like it – it’s amazing.

“We have the odd day off but normally I spend it doing the laundry or getting some shopping in.

“I would like to go to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park before I leave.”

Fantasy

Lost in Austen sees the original story thrown off track as London-living Amanda finds Lizzie Bennet in her bathroom.

She swaps her humdrum life in the Noughties to enter the fictional world of Pride and Prejudice.

Alex said: “I first read Pride and Prejudice as a teenager and remember thinking ‘Oh my God, I would love to go back to that time and meet Mr Darcy’ – in fact I don’t know a woman who knows the book who hasn’t had that fantasy.”

When filming finishes next week Alex will carry on the Jane Austen theme by doing the voice-over for a documentary about the 19th century writer.

She will then jet back to LA where she lives with husband Florian and their six-year-old daughter Salomé.

The 44-year-old said: “There is due to be an actors’ strike in June so going back to LA there will be a pool of actors desperately trying to get a job before the strike comes into action.

“I might have to come back here to do something up north again!”

Shoppers watched as Leeds City Markets were transformed into London’s Hammersmith City underground station last week for the filming of Lost In Austen. The drama, which sees its heroine transported back through time to exchange places with Elizabeth Bennet, used some of the region’s most stunning locations including Bramham Park, Wetherby and York to portray the contrast between the period of Pride and Prejudice and modern day city life.

The four part series for ITV is written by acclaimed television writer Guy Andrews (Chancer, Prime Suspect, Absolute Power and Lewis) and features an all-star cast including Alex Kingston (ER), Jemima Rooper and veteran actor Hugh Bonneville.

Screen Yorkshire invested in Lost in Austen through its Production Fund and secured jobs for a number of regional trainees. The production liaison team were instrumental in attracting the drama to the region and ensured filming could go ahead without a hitch by negotiating filming permissions with local authorities and police.

Lost in Austen, a Mammoth Screen production for ITV 1 and Screen Yorkshire, is set to screen in 2008.

Hugo Heppell, Head of Production at Screen Yorkshire says

”Bringing high quality and popular drama such as ‘Lost in Austen’ to the region is critical to building a sustainable industry here. We’re working hard to build long term relationships with drama producers so we can continue to benefit from the jobs, investment and long term impact on tourism that drama production can bring. Yorkshire has a long and successful track record in film and television production and companies are attracted by the strong infrastructure, diversity of locations, comparatively low production costs and the positive filming experience they have here.”

From itv.com

Starring: Jemima Rooper, Alex Kingston, Lindsay Duncan, Hugh Bonneville and Elliot Cowan

If only Amanda Price’s life was as exciting and romantic as the novels she reads. Poor Amanda is fed up with her life in London and losing patience with her boyfriend.

She may be a thoroughly modern girl but she longs for a man who can spark the fires that lie within. One day she is alone in her flat, reading a book. She hears a noise in the bathroom.

From that moment on her life will never be the same. Before she knows what has happened she has travelled back in time over 200 years. Jemima Rooper stars as the beautiful modern day heroine who enters the world of Lizzie Bennet and her family, the famous characters from Pride and Prejudice.

Realising she’s joined the action at the very start of the classic novel, she gets to know the remaining Bennet sisters, and prepares to meet Mr Darcy (Elliot Cowan).

How will she keep the greatest love story of all time on track when Elizabeth Bennet is stuck in the modern world?

The ‘true’ story is in danger of being thrown off track by her presence. Because Amanda knows Jane Austen’s book so well she realises that she could ruin literary history for ever.

Playing Mr and Mrs Bennet are Hugh Bonneville and Alex Kingston. Lindsay Duncan is Darcy’s aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh; Morven Christie is Jane Bennet, Tom Mison is Mr Bingley, Tom Riley is Captain Wickham, and Christina Cole is Caroline Bingley.

The four part series is written by acclaimed television writer Guy Andrews (Chancer, Prime Suspect, Absolute Power and Lewis).

“Lost in Austen has the high production values of period drama. Its sumptuous period locations, costume, carriages and props are juxtaposed with Amanda Price’s very modern lifestyle. The cleverness of the script will appeal to Austen aficionados and attract a new audience to this beautiful love story,” says ITV Controller of Drama Commissioning Sally Haynes.

Kingston: ditches her stethoscope in favour of a bonnet.

 

Alex Kingston, the former star of ER, will play a lead role in Lost in Austen, ITV1’s modern day take on the novelist Jane Austen’s classic story Pride and Prejudice.

The network has recruited Kingston for the role of the neurotic Mrs Bennet, her first British TV role since leaving the US hospital drama in 2004 and starring in ITV’s Boudica in 2003.

Jemima Rooper, star of the US science fiction series Hex, has been cast in the role of Amanda Price, a modern woman who swaps places with the novel’s heroine Elizabeth Bennet, played by Gemma Arterton.

In the four-part drama, Lizzie Bennet will living Amanda’s life while Mr Darcy, played by Elliot Cowen, will focus his attention upon a reluctant Amanda, a devoted follower of Austen and the world of Pride and Prejudice.

At the beginning of the story she uses the novel to escape her humdrum working life in a call centre before she is magically transported into its world.

The part of Mr Bennet will be played by veteran actor Hugh Bonneville and Rome star Lindsay Duncan will take on the role of the snobbish Lady Catherine in what is the first commission for Mammoth Screen, the independent production company set up by former ITV drama executives Michele Buck and Damien Timmer.

Written by Guy Andrews filming has just started on the drama which has been identified by industry observers as ITV1’s answer to the hugely popular BBC1 time travel drama Life on Mars. Controller of Drama Commissioning for ITV, Sally Haynes, said: “Lost in Austen has the high production values of period drama. Its sumptuous period locations, costume, carriages and props are juxtaposed with Amanda Price’s very modern lifestyle.

“The cleverness of the script will appeal to Austen aficionados and attract a new audience to this beautiful love story.”

Ben Dowell in MediaGuardian,