Colin Firth has declined to participate in a BBC documentary about P&P2, according to contactmusic.com.

Firth was a relative unknown until he played the aloof aristocrat in the BBC’s period drama, and has often complained fans and casting directors won’t let him move past his Darcy character.

We are moved to quote the well-known social critic, Miss Bridget Jones:

It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It’s like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting “Cathy” and banging your head against a tree.

Of course, Mr. Firth’s “people” say that he’s simply too busy to participate, which could be very much the case, and one would not wish to be prejudiced about his motivation, would one?

Besides, the big news out of that tidbit is a documentary on P&P2! All you Firth!Darcy fans (you know who you are) complaining about P&P3 have something new to obsess over.

MetroWest Daily news has a glowing review of the Wellesley Summer Theatre production of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, about which we posted previously:

Entering a Jane Austen novel is akin to lifting off in a hot air balloon, say from the pastoral English countryside.

The familiar world fades, going into soft focus, as the world of conversation, wry wit, clever gossip and concern about romantic relationships becomes all. It’s almost an out-of-body experience, as the familiar physical world diminishes in proportion to the expanding universe of elegant talk and keen observations about each other’s romantic aspirations.

The Wellesley Summer Theatre’s production of “Pride & Prejudice,” adapted from Austen’s novel by the Summer Theatre’s Andrea Kennedy, offers this heady experience. It makes one feel — if only for as long as hot air balloons stay aloft — that this is closer to the essence of life than much of what we experience. And it makes one laugh out loud, at the wry humor certainly, but also from the freedom of floating in a lighter-than-air universe.

The same actor portrays Wickham and Col. Fitzwilliam, which makes sense from a stage direction point of view but from a Janeite point of view creeps us out.