Sanditon series 1 — some thoughts

As preparation for Sanditon series 2, I rewatched the first series. While I recalled much of the story, on rewatch there was a lot more to it than I’d thought. Given the gap between series, this was useful and allowed me to reset some expectations. As a reminder, when the first series (then cancelled) arrived on ITV, it was a modernisation of the unfinished Jane Austen novel of the same name. Pre-Bridgerton, aspects of the series upset Austen devotees, and like many I was disappointed with the ending.

That said, I’ve decided the show is better than I thought it was, and recommended if you like Regency romance. I still see flaws on a rewatch, as well as interesting character choices.

The basic plot

Young Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) is the focus of the story, a farmer’s daughter spending summer in the newly created seaside resort of Sanditon. She’s the guest of Tom Parker (Kris Marshall) who’s the visionary behind the building of Sanditon, funded by Lady Denham (Anne Reid). Tom’s brother Sidney (Theo James) appears, dragged to Sanditon by Tom to bring his important friends to make the town fashionable.

Sparks fly, Charlotte and Sidney argue non-stop, so being Austen fall in love and would wed… but…

Here’s the difficulty. Tom Parker is useless at finance, evades the truth and takes risks he can’t cover. He’s self-absorbed and entirely without empathy. When a fire threatens to ruin the Sanditon project and bankrupt Tom, Sidney marries a rich widow (who’d dumped him ten years earlier for money) so can’t marry Charlotte. It’s not a standard ending.

Apart from a love story, Charlotte also possess a great deal of luck (acts as a strange attractor) and wanders about meeting the right people, saying the right thing, having the right skill and making a massive difference to the success of the town. In the end she’s abandoned and leaves for home, heart broken.

The side plots

On a second watch (recommended) there’s a lot of clever writing around Lady Denham — her lazy, greedy, moral vacuum of a nephew Sir Edward Denham (Jack Fox), his step-sister Esther (Charlotte Spencer) and Lady Denham’s ward Clara Brereton (Lily Sacofsky). There’s a well-woven tale of power, deception, lies, manipulation, a faux incest interaction between Edward and Esther and more back-story for Clara than would fill two series.

Here the show has great characters, character growth, plot and a whole range of happy and not so happy endings. Unfettered by the Austen trope trapping Sidney and Charlotte, here’s a palette of intriguing actors and superb performances.

Sidney also has a ward (Georgiana Lambe played by Crystal Clarke) who causes her own problems being a rich black woman in a world where many women are little more than property of they have money or title. She’s a good counterpoint to Lady Denham (and others), and while as selfish as Tom Parker in many ways, she grows through the series, makes mistakes and evolves.

Other points

It looks really good. It may not have the Bridgerton production budget but does very well in conveying Regency England with a sense of the conditions for working classes with political commentary. It’s also set by the seaside — what’s not to like!