Jane Austen’s enduring and universal appeal revealed by hit writers, from Pride & Prejudice 1995 screenwriter to David Baddiel

by

It’s been a huge year for Jane Austen fans – 2017 marked 250 years since her birth, and there’s been so much to celebrate! As a film lover, I’ve really enjoyed seeing her work come to life on TV. We’ve already had a fascinating documentary about her surprisingly rebellious side, and the drama ‘Miss Austen’ with Keeley Hawes was fantastic. And if that wasn’t enough, another adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is on its way, this time backed by Netflix and boasting a seriously impressive cast. It’s a great time to be an Austen enthusiast!

Radio 4 is marking the anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth with a comprehensive season of programming. They’re clearly investing heavily, as usual, and have already presented a fresh adaptation of Northanger Abbey, revisited classic dramas from their archives on Radio 4 Extra, and created new radio dramas of Pride and Prejudice (featured below) and Sense and Sensibility (next weekend). A special episode of Bookclub, featuring Emma Thompson, will also explore Austen’s life and work on her 250th birthday this Tuesday.

A ten-part documentary series, “When I Met Jane Austen,” explores the lasting impact of Austen’s writing. Biographer Dr. Paula Byrne interviews a diverse group of well-known figures – including David Baddiel, Katherine Rundell, Val McDermid, and others – about how Austen’s novels have influenced their lives and work.

Like countless Austen fans worldwide, psychotherapist and author Perry has always been deeply influenced by the writer’s cleverness and insight. She credits Austen with transforming her life, ever since reading Pride and Prejudice at age twelve as part of her English studies.

What makes Jane Austen’s novels – including classics like Pride and Prejudice and Emma – so enduringly popular? According to author Perry, it’s the feeling of having a candid conversation with a close friend as you try to understand the characters. Perry, who has spent over 40 years exploring human nature – starting as a volunteer for the Samaritans – believes Austen excels at revealing what makes people tick.

Perry has written four popular books, including her 2019 bestseller, The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did), which became a major success during the pandemic lockdowns. As a trained psychologist, she examines Jane Austen’s writing and believes Austen’s insights into social behavior, even from over two centuries ago, still powerfully shape her own work.

She was a keen observer of people, and her insights still feel current today. One quote that stands out is, ‘To be sure, you knew no actual good of me – but nobody thinks of that when they fall in love.’ In this line, Elizabeth Bennet points out that love often happens regardless of a person’s merits.

According to Perry, Austen was a keen observer of life, rather than someone who theorized about it. He points out she never depicted conversations between men without a woman present, simply because, as a woman herself, she hadn’t witnessed such a scenario. Perry believes this dedication to observation makes Austen an incredibly trustworthy writer when it comes to portraying human nature. While she created fictional stories, she based them on real human behavior she’d seen, rather than inventing it from scratch.

If Jane Austen were writing today, Perry thinks her focus would remain the same: observing relationships and exploring the consequences of how people interact. She wouldn’t change her style at all.

Considering her deep understanding of people, could Jane Austen have been a successful psychotherapist? According to Perry, absolutely. She believes Austen and Shakespeare would have made an incredible therapy team!

David Baddiel – Comedian and author

I’ve never encountered anyone genuinely surprised or critical of my enjoyment of Jane Austen. It always seemed odd to people that I, someone known for writing about football and being a bit of a ‘lad,’ would also write extensively about Austen and Updike. I was pushing back against the common perception of Austen as simply a sweet, old-fashioned author, and also against the idea that someone like me shouldn’t like her. I enjoy that it challenges expectations. Ultimately, I’m a writer first and foremost, and I consider Austen to be one of the most gifted storytellers in the English language, so my admiration for her is unwavering.

Andrew Davies – Writer of the 1995 TV dramatisation of Pride and Prejudice

I first encountered Pride and Prejudice in school and immediately loved it. It became the book I taught most frequently, often reading it aloud to my older students. Some might think reading aloud to high schoolers is too basic, but they gained so much from it and were then better prepared to read it independently. I always emphasized to my students that the novel isn’t simply about social niceties or clever wit; it explores fundamental themes like desire, wealth, and basic human instincts – really important stuff.

Katherine Rundell – Children’s author

I discovered Jane Austen at a young age, around nine or ten, though I probably wasn’t ready for her at the time. Her early writings are incredible – unlike anything else I’ve ever read from someone so young. They’re really witty and insightful. Most children’s stories don’t yet grasp that a story’s power comes from how the plot unfolds. Young writers often lack the broader understanding of literature needed to play with those conventions.

Kate Atkinson – Creator of the Jackson Brodie crime novels

When you read Mansfield Park, it doesn’t quite feel like Jane Austen’s other novels, Emma or Pride and Prejudice. It’s a book that can leave you wondering what Austen was trying to achieve. I recently reread it and found myself asking the same question: what motivated her to write this particular story?

I think after the huge success of Pride and Prejudice, which she began surprisingly young, she felt the pressure to prove herself as a serious novelist. She’d already proven she could create a captivating story, but I get the sense she wanted to show she could craft a novel, not just write another story with a similar heroine. It’s like she knew people might expect a sequel – a Pride and Prejudice 2 – and she wanted to avoid being pigeonholed.

Val McDermid – Crime novelist

I first encountered Northanger Abbey at age 17, and, identifying with Catherine Morland, initially found her quite silly and naive. However, when I revisited the novel in my early thirties, as part of a study of effective storytelling, my opinion completely changed – I was deeply impressed by its construction.

I appreciated the story’s humor and understood the importance of its main character. When I reread it in my fifties, after becoming a parent, it resonated with me in a new way. I saw it through a parent’s eyes – the worry about your child venturing out on their own, combined with the realization that some of that worry is a bit silly. It’s amazing how each time I read it, it feels completely fresh.

Amy Heckerling – Writer of the movie Clueless, which updated Emma to modern LA

I remember taking a British literature class at NYU where we studied authors like Dickens and Sir Walter Scott. We read Emma by Jane Austen, and I absolutely loved it. It was amazing to connect with such a strong, self-assured character. It felt incredible to read something from a different time and place that still felt so relevant to the experience of being young – it really showed how universal certain feelings are, and how literature can connect us across time.

Read More

2025-12-03 21:11