Charlotte's Web

Rose Williams plays the headstrong heroine in a lavish adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel

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Just months before she passed away in 1817, Jane Austen began writing a story with a difference. Set in a developing seaside town, the tale followed the fortunes of entrepreneurs and businessmen, all told through the eyes of a modern heroine who most certainly wasn’t looking for a husband.

Austen finished only 11 chapters of the novel before becoming gravely ill, but now her story has been adapted and expanded by BAFTA-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies (War & Peace, Pride and Prejudice) in a lavish eight-part drama for ITV.

This week’s episode introduces fearless heroine Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams), who is invited to stay at the fashionable seaside town of Sanditon by its chief architect Tom Parker (Kris Marshall) and his wife Mary (Kate Ashfield) following a carriage accident.