For many literary scholars, Cassandra Austen is a villainess of Miss Norris-esque proportions. After all, her deliberate burning of her sibling’s vast personal correspondence — only 160 of her approximately 3,000 letters are still intact — largely thwarted any attempt to further understand the famously elusive author. However, “Miss Austen,” itself based on Gill Hornby’s same-named piece of historical fiction, does its best to exonerate her reputation as a cultural vandal.
The BBC original certainly comes with an impressive period drama pedigree. Director Aisling Walsh won a BAFTA for her post-war miniseries “Room at the Top,” while leading lady Keeley Hawes made her name in Charles Dickens retelling “Our Mutual Friend” and the slightly more sapphic 19th century tale “Tipping the Velvet.” But although the show quite happily leans into all the familiar tropes — there are still plenty of bonnets and bodices, debonair suitors, and societal gatherings — it’s not afraid to elegantly stray from the well-trodden path, either.
