Firstly, the wish to bring to life and actively engage in the world of a well-loved story. Secondly, there is the particular nature of Pride And Prejudice itself. Jane Austen’s ear for dialogue is superb, defining characters’ foibles with deadly accuracy in the way they phrase themselves.

The first chapter is almost all dialogue and at key moments we hear the characters’ exact words, such as when Mr Darcy makes Elizabeth’s ears burn in Chapter Three. The famous opening sentence has the feeling of the prologue to a play, addressing the reader directly and alerting them to the themes of the story to come. Even the structure of the novel, originally published in three volumes, mirrors the three-act plays of the time.

It's hardly, surprising, then, that Pride And Prejudice should be Jane Austen’s most frequently adapted novel. The BBC alone has been responsible for six TV adaptations as well as several more on radio. The first stage version was in 1906 and there have been plenty more, including a version by AA Milne, the creator of Winnie The Pooh, called Miss Elizabeth Bennett. 

Staying true to the book

Dramatising a novel has the effect of introducing it to a wider audience, even if it is a classic that has been in print for centuries. The huge popularity of the 1995 BBC adaptation put Pride And Prejudice back on the bestseller lists and glossy new editions were put out, featuring stars from the television version on the covers.

There is a downside to dramatisation, however. Purists, and even fans, feel that the nuance and sly irony of Jane Austen’s prose is almost impossible to translate into any other medium. It has been said that “seeing a movie or television adaptation of any of Jane Austen’s works is like hearing a symphony played on a harmonica” (Nattcafé, Swedish television).

Aldous Huxley, an acclaimed writer, considered his 1940 screenplay of the novel for MGM “a major falsification of Miss Austen” (he wasn’t wrong). To begin with, that film was set in the Victorian era (“Old England”), which is later than the writing or publication date of the novel. This was to capitalise on the popularity with audiences of the Victorian hooped skirt look as sported in Gone With The Wind.

The whole story was condensed into under two hours, a great deal being crammed into the last ten minutes, and Mr Collins was transformed into a librarian to afford giving offence to vicars. The studio wanted “to keep it light, bright and pleasant” (compare Jane Austen’s own comment on the novel, “the work is rather too light, and bright, and sparkling”) but their marketing ploy was to emphasise the man-eating nature of the Bennett women. The publicity promised “Five charming sisters on the gayest, merriest manhunt that ever snared a bewildered bachelor! Girls! Take a lesson from these husband hunters!”

The musical version

More true to the novel, in some ways, more wayward in others, was the 1959 Broadway musical, First Impressions (the original title of the book). It was based on Helen Jerome’s successful play of Pride And Prejudice (the same which had inspired Harpo Marx to suggest it to MGM) with lyrics by Robert Goldman and George Weiss and music by Glenn Paxton.

Broadway veteran Abe “show doctor” Burrows was brought in to direct, although Guys And Dolls may not have been the most obvious preparation for tackling Jane Austen’s wit! The show was set in 1813 and had 15 musical numbers - a Broadway score with 19th century colour. Farley Granger as Mr Darcy did not have much of a singing voice and spoke-sung most of his numbers in an appropriately disdainful fashion. The show, possibly due to the casting of Hermione Gingold (a larger than life British star) made much of the role of Mrs Bennett and her presence dominates the story.

The Firth factor

Later adaptations on film and television have been rather more concerned with fidelity to the novel and historic accuracy. The last BBC adaptation, the celebrated 1995 version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, took an unprecedented five hours to tell the story and was obsessed with the details of fabric prints, food and garden flowers.

The setting was 1797, around the time the novel was written rather than published, so the girls skip about in diaphanous Empire-line dresses, with rather more plunging necklines than would have been acceptable. This was in line with adaptor Andrew Davies' gentle sexing up of the story - Mr Darcy’s infamous emergence from a quick dip in the lake being the most famous example.

The 2005 feature film starring Keira Knightley and an immensely grumpy Matthew Macfadyen is also ravishing to look at in its late 18th century setting. Screen writer Deborah Moggach gives Donald Sutherland more depth as Mr Bennett, placing emphasis on his relationship with Elizabeth and the darker side of his anything-for-a-quiet-life philosophy.

Modern-day twists

The popularity and pervasiveness of Pride And Prejudice is born out by the number of updatings and re-workings the story has received, often relying on knowledge of the original for appreciation of the spin-off. Gurinder Chadha’s Bollywood-style Bride And Prejudice and the American teen movie Pride And Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy are both examples of this.

But surely the most original realisation of Jane Austen’s themes and characters must be the canine version. Between 1995 and 1998 Wishbone was an American television programme portraying a Jack Russell terrier who daydreamed himself the hero of various classic novels where dilemmas from his everyday life were resolved with reference to their plots. The title of the Pride And Prejudice episode was Furst Impressions.

Another film - Becoming Jane - is in the pipeline, starring Brokeback Mountain actress Anne Hathaway as Austen. The story will revolve around the author's flirtation with Irish politician and judge Tom Lefroy. Some believe he may have provided the inspiration for the character Mr Darcy, although no evidence has been found to back this up.