Yes, this is old news, but we keep getting e-mails about it so we thought it worth repeating, with bullet points to assist the dull elves with their reading comprehension.

ETA: Masterpiece Theatre films now will be broadcast beginning in January 2008.

• Masterpiece Theatre on PBS will broadcast a “Jane Austen Festival” beginning in November 2007.
• The Festival will include three NEW adaptations: Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park and Persuasion.
• The same three adaptations PLUS the 1997 television adaptation of Emma starring Kate Beckinsale in the title role will be broadcast in the UK on ITV’s “Jane Austen Season” starting next month.
• Each of these films will be ninety minutes to two hours long.
• In a completely separate endeavor, a new four-hour miniseries of Sense and Sensibility currently is in pre-production. It will be broadcast in the UK by the BBC, presumably in the autumn of 2007 but we really don’t know for sure.
• The Jane Austen Festival on PBS also will include the miniseries of S&S.
• The three films broadcast by ITV will be available on Region 2 DVD in March or April 2007.
• These DVDs cannot be played on most DVD players sold in North America without modification. Read Tony A.’s comment for information about these modifications.
• We do not know if or when the S&S DVD will go on sale anywhere.
• We do not yet know if or when Region 1 (North America) DVDs of any of these films will be available. Logic directs us to presume sometime after the Masterpiece Theatre presentation but we have no information on this point.
• We have no idea if or when any of the films/miniseries will be broadcast anywhere else in the world, nor if or when the DVDs will be available in any other regions.

In summary, possess your soul in patience. You will not have to wait longer than Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney had to wait to be married to see the bally movies. In the meantime, try reading the books again.