Masterpiece Theatre to Broadcast Jane Austen Festival in 2007
ETA: Masterpiece Theatre will broadcast the films starting in January 2008.
Most excellent news indeed! Alert Janeite and Intrepid Reporter Heather L. spotted a tidbit in one of the NA2007 press releases about WGBH (the PBS station that produces Masterpiece Theatre) broadcasting the new adaptation. She e-mailed the station and received the following response:
Northanger Abbey is currently scheduled to air as part of the Masterpiece Theatre series in November 2007. It will air along with Mansfield Park, Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion as part of a Jane Austen Festival.
We already knew about S&S on Masterpiece Theatre, but this is excellent news for the rest of the films! We’ll be getting these about six months behind the U.K., we believe.
Looks like they won’t be including EMMA (the 1996 version with Kate Beckinsale) as ITV will, since A&E owns the rights to that on this side of the pond, and A&E is busy with roller derby and bounty hunters these days. 
Let the count down begin
I’m positively giddy with excitement! I was worried about how we in America were going to be able to see (and I hope enjoy) the new adaptations. Excellent news indeed!
But those of us who don’t get PBS will still have to wait for the DVDs.
You don’t have PBS? I’m indeed sorry to hear that. I thought PBS was in every area. Does anyone know how PBS works?
I am so excited!!! I was hoping that PBS would pick them all up, but I was kind of expecting to have to wait for DVDs.
This news made my day!!!
Yay! I’m so excited! I was so worried that we in the USA wouldn’t get to see these magnificent adaptions and now my fears are all far behind me!
I am so excited to see NA2 and MP3 that I don’t really care about not getting to see Emma4! And as for not getting to see them until almost 6 months after the U.K. I suppose that if we can be patient for three months for P&P3 I think this won’t be too much of a strech. Having an Austen Festival on PBS is worth waiting for!
I am so happy! I know you’ll continue to keep us posted!
Also we should keep in mind that not every PBS station will carry Masterpiece Theatre. For instance, I’m in range of several PBS stations (Philly/Wilmington, both NJN stations, and the Lehigh Valley) and the New Jersey station doesn’t show it because it crosses coverage with the other two stations, which do carry it. However, they sometimes show them a few months later than the other stations. Yay for reruns!
The rub for me is that in November of 2007, I will be in England.
Thank you for your kind condolences, Jessica. I live in a rural area where we don’t have most things that are common in other parts of the country, or even the state. I also don’t have cable. I can get NBC regularly, CBS sometimes, and ABC if I’m very lucky. So I’m very pleased that Netflix was invented. It makes up for the lack of entertainment in these parts.
[...] Austenblog has more updates on the new versions of Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion that will air stateside on Masterpiece Theatre in 2007. Doctor Who’s Billie Piper will play Fanny Price in Mansfield Park. Sally Hawkins, who I’m not familiar with, will play Anne Elliot in Persuasion. The main cast of Northanger Abbey has been announced, with photos here. The only one I recognize there is Carey Mulligan from Bleak House. Masterpiece Theatre will air Andrew Davies’s adaptation of Sense & Sensibility in 2007 as well. As if that weren’t enough, Becoming Jane, a fictionalized tale about Jane Austen’s love life (starring Anne Hathaway and the soon-to-be-famous James McAvoy) will also be released in 2007. [...]