Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice puts iconic line on screen for the first time - The Independent

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that everyone knows the opening line of Pride and Prejudice – but it’s never actually been uttered on screen.

A starry Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel is set to change all of that, with Dolly Alderton’s script finally featuring the words: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

While in the book the line comes from the narrator, Alderton has gifted the line to one of the characters: family matriarch Mrs Bennet, played by Oscar-winning actor Olivia Colman.

In a new trailer, Colman’s Mrs Bennet can be seen saying the iconic phrase. Speaking about finally using the landmark line on screen, the show creator Dolly Alderton said it made sense because Mrs Bennet is a mother consumed with the marital status of her daughters.

“It’s the central drama of her story,” said Alderton. “It’s all she’s thinking about, it’s a preoccupation that any time a single man comes into her orbit she’s thinking this might be safety for all of my daughters this might be salvation not just for one of them but for all of us so the fact that this is so in her mind all the time felt that it had to be her line.”

“It was most natural for her to take it because it’s all she thinks about,” said Alderton, who admitted that she was initially hesitant about adapting Austen’s classic because it is “too much responsibility”.

She added: “Since then, I’ve just thought about the honour and the privilege of being entrusted with this story.”

The new trailer follows on from a sneak peek that was unveiled back in February, and gives fans a closer look at Corrin’s protagonist, last played by Keira Knightley in a 2005 film adaptation. Here, Corrin appears to channel that same spirited defiance as their predecessor, at one point saying: “One day Jane, I shall either be a governess or a spinster… or a wife and a mother. And then finally we may talk about something else!”

Viewers also got a closer look at Jack Lowden’s enigmatic Mr Darcy. Every bit as intense and awkwardly romantic as Matthew MacFadyen and Colin Firth who played the part before him, Lowden looks set to bring his own brooding intensity to Austen’s famously reserved love interest.

It’s a hugely significant role for Lowden at a time when he is being heavily tipped for another, with the James Bond rumour mill running high after reports that the final screen tests happened last weekend.

The trailer also offers a glimpse at Jamie Demetriou in the role of Mr Collins, the pompous potential suitor to Elizabeth Bennet, and one of the most memorable characters in the book. “Mrs Bennet, if there is one thing I am not in need of, it’s counsel on how to charm a young lady,” he says, before raising to his feet and knocking over a table of glasses.

While there have been several adaptations of the work, including the BBC series in 1995 starring Laurence Olivier, this is the first major screen adaptation of Austen’s novel since Joe Wright’s 2005 film, which was released to critical acclaim and received four Oscar nominations.

“Pride and Prejudice is such a timeless story because of the emotions in the book; they are as pertinent now as they were in 1812,” said Alderton.

“Embarrassment of your family, fear that you’re going to get left behind, fear that the world is not going to be a safe place for your children as it was for you, mortification that you judged someone incorrectly or that you had been misjudged. We go to that book to see our hearts reflected in it.”

Pride and Prejudice, the series, will debut on Netflix on 3 December.