Matthew Macfadyen

[JHyde]

The book's worth reading, Tea Lady. I went through my Austen phase in my teenage years and rarely re-visit them these days, but still have great affection for them. All her books are worth reading and RPJ is in an adaptation of Persuasion that was done that is also great.

I still think the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle adaptation has never been bettered. There's maybe one or two small things missing from it, but it's pretty damn good.

The thing I do like about the MM version is the visceral look they have for a lot of locations. There's no dodging the fact that Austen and her people lived in a dirty world and that messiness translates really well in this adaptation. It's also nice to see Carey Mulligan in her first film role.

The hilarious thing about it is MM's scene in the rain, which is essentially the equivalent of the scene Colin Firth does in the mini series after his dip in the pond.

I'm not sure about Darcy and Harry though. If anything, I actually think Lizzy and Harry share one of the same flaws, they're both a bit too quick to judge!

MM has lots of stuff out in the next 12 months that looks really promising. I just mentioned over on the status thread that his cameo role in A2A was one of the better things he's done since Spooks and I'd actually like to see him do a bit more comedy. The film he did with Keeley a couple of years back was also pretty good, Death at a Funeral.