Every generation gets their own Jane Austen stories. She’s always been popular but Austenmania began in earnest in the mid-90s with a series of Austen adaptations: Sense & Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park. The BBC did a 6-part adaptation of Pride & Prejudice that led the charge, with a swoonworthy Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

Of course this was not the first time these books have been brought to the screen. That cluster in the 90s included five of the canonical six Austen novels, leaving out Northanger Abbey. But the Beeb did Northanger Abbey a decade earlier, in 1986. The BBC has done multiple adaptations of all the books. There was a round of BBC Austen adaptations in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, and the mid-aughts (ITV and BBC).

I needed some comfort viewing so I recently binged all the 90s Austens except Mansfield Park. I dislike the 1999 film with Frances O’Connor, directed by Patricia Rozema. I also skipped the Andrew Davies scripted 1996 BBC Emma with Kate Beckinsale. Beckinsale is fine but Mark Strong is all wrong for Mr. Knightley. I opted instead for the Andrew McGrath directed Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow in the lead. I have issues with this one as well (starting with Paltrow), but Jeremy Northam remains my favorite Mr. Knightley.

While I was looking at Jane Austen’s IMDb page (yes, she has one), I noticed there’s a whole new round of Austens in the works, starting with a 2026 Focus Features Sense & Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor and Esmé Creed-Miles as Marianne. Also in production are new versions of Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, the unfinished Sanditon (previously adapted by Andrew Davies for the BBC starting in 2019), and no less than three new takes on Pride & Prejudice. These are all listed as ‘in production’ or ‘pre-production’ so who knows if they’ll actually make it to the finish line. There is a tv series in the works called Modern Austen, described as “reimagining Austen’s works, six intertwined stories explore love and family amid modern-day societal divides”. Also attributed to Jane, something called Truly Criminal. There are no details beyond genre tags (comedy, mystery, romance).

In addition to the in-the-works productions listed above, Andrew Davies is proposing new versions of Emma, Mansfield Park and the unfinished novel, The Watsons. Davies is no stranger to Austen. He wrote the 1995 BBC adaptation of P&P, the 1996 BBC adaptation of Emma (with Kate Beckinsale), and the 2019-2023 adaptation of the unfinished Sanditon. He wants to redo Emma from the perspective of Jane Fairfax. That on its own isn’t a bad idea but Davies is keen to explore the ‘dark side’ of Austen. He already has a reputation for sexing things up. This is the guy who gave us ‘wet shirt Darcy’ in the 1995 P&P. His Sanditon had a number of shocking plot points.

I thought I would do a roundup of every existing Jane Austen adaptation, including the modern ones (Clueless, Bride & Prejudice, etc.) I haven’t seen them all but I’ve made a pretty good dent.

Jane Austen’s works

The Jane Austen canon includes six finished novels, two unfinished novels, and a novella. Click on the link for each book below for a list of all movie/tv adaptations. I did not include audio adaptations or podcasts (there are too many) but I did include vlog style web series like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Most of these can be found on youtube.

• Sense & Sensibility (1811)
• Pride & Prejudice (1813)
• Mansfield Park (1814)
• Emma (1816)
• Northanger Abbey (1818) [published posthumously]
• Persuasion (1818) [published posthumously]
• Lady Susan (1871) [novella, published posthumously]
• The Watsons (1804) [unfinished]
• Sanditon (1817) [unfinished]