She also seems initially displeased to hear that Henry is a clergyman- I guess that profession isn’t sexy enough for her? I thought that was weird. They’re all on the “racy” side- in quotes because we wouldn’t really consider them racy today, but they’re nothing Jane Austen would have written about! In one she is taking a bath and Henry gets her to stand out of the tub, naked, in front of him. Rather than being drug-based, however, she seems to be sexually frustrated. Like the 1987 Catherine, she is constantly having lurid dreams and nightmares. She was sweet and innocent in some ways, but in others Andrew Davies had to ruin her. Davies seemed to have missed the point, but at least not as badly as the 1987 creators did. Sorry, I didn’t see any of that in the book- it was a comedy! This version has funny moments too, but it’s really all the sexed up scenes that bothered me. One scene in particular was just plain wrong! Why, Andrew Davies, why? He seemed to interpret the story to be Catherine’s sexual awakening. Most of this was in the form of Catherine’s dreams, but there was something else too. Suffice it to say- I was totally right! Most of the cast was really good…but it was really sexed up. I was a little nervous about Andrew Davies writing the script, given his tendency to sex things up, but the cast looked really good.

After 20 years with the horrible 1987 version as the only adaptation of Northanger Abbey, many fans were eagerly anticipating the new 2007 version.

Felicity jones northanger abbey