Emma Thompson: Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

The award-winning actress Emma Thompson takes questions on Sense and Sensibility in this special episode of Bookclub to mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth. Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austen's first novel published in 1811 when she was thirty-five years old. The book follows the Dashwood sisters as they navigate their way through love and and threat of its loss. Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment.

Emma Thompson won an Oscar for her screen adaptation of the 1995 film, of the same name, in which she played Elinor Dashwood. The film also starred Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood, Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars, Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon, and Greg Wise as John Willoughby.

This episode was recorded at Broadcasting House, London, in August.

Producer: Dominic Howell Editor: Gillian Wheelan This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.