Emma (2009 miniseries)

""One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.""

The BBC returned to Emma after nearly four decades, scripted by Sandy Welch (though they had planned a follow-up to Pride and Prejudice in 1996, cancelled when the other two versions were announced - a project which was also supposed to be scripted by Sandy Welch). Starred Romola Garai as Emma, Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightley, and Michael Gambon as Mr. Woodhouse.


 * Adaptation Expansion: The series takes several elements from the novel which are mostly understated, such as Emma's teenage years, the connections between Emma, Frank, and Jane's childhoods, Emma's never having seen the sea, and Mr. Woodhouse's fears for his daughters, and expands them into subplots.
 * Author Appeal: Screenwriter Sandy Welch follows a similar pattern to her previous literary adaptations in many ways. She keeps the four-episode structure from Our Mutual Friend, North and South, and Jane Eyre. Additionally, like Jane Eyre, she approaches Emma's story through her childhood.
 * Dawson Casting: Romola Garai was 26, five years older than Emma's 21 (and a decade older than Emma at 16, in the prologue of the film).
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill appear in the prologue as children, emphasizing their importance in the story much earlier than most adaptations do. Perhaps justified since the material adapted does appear quite early in the novel, but Jane and Frank do not appear in person in the novel until the second volume, and both appear first as adults in the second episode of the miniseries.
 * Genki Girl: Garai's Emma is prone to do everything very energetically.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Mr. Woodhouse is Albus Dumbledore!
 * Lens Flare: In the 2009 BBC series, after Emma insults Miss Bates, the camera tracks down her face after a sleepless night, and the rising sun flares. Also, in the third episode, as Mr. Knightley walks across the field.
 * Overprotective Dad: Michael Gambon plays an extremely gentle version of this character. While Mr. Woodhouse is something of this trope in the novel and all adaptations, Gambon's Mr. Woodhouse explicitly speaks of his special concern for his daughters as a result of losing his wife when they were very young.
 * Younger and Hipper: Partly due to Emma's being cast at a more mature age, but Jonny Lee Miller was 34 at the time he played Mr. Knightley, and is young-looking.