New series revels in the genius of Jane Austen

Posted on 28 May 2025 • TV and radio

If you love the feminine bonnets and bustles, handsome eligible young men and the haughty outrage of female chaperones in 18th century fiction then feast your eyes on the new docudrama Jane Austen, Rise of a Genius.

The three-part Open University/BBC co-production, available on BBC iPlayer, coincides with the 250th year of Austen’s birth and charts the life of the famous author, known as the ‘mother of romcom’, who has fascinated writers and readers over the centuries.

This production reimagines what her life looked like as we see how this self-taught, unmarried woman from a small English village started her journey to become one of the greatest novelists who ever lived.

It is a history known well by those who have studied her, including Nicola Watson, Professor of English Literature at The Open University, and colleague Dr Emma Claire Sweeney, who acted as consultants to the programme makers.

Observational talent of a comic novelist

Nicola’s thoughts on what led to Austen becoming considered a genius surround the author’s use of contemporary backdrops of the time. This, coupled with her observational talent, Nicola believes, made Austen regarded as the greatest comic novelist in the English language.

Furthermore, the desire of commentators of every variety to discuss her and fill in the gaps of what is known about her life, demonstrate the fascination with this acclaimed writer.

Nicola said:

“One of the important things to understand about Jane Austen is that she is working in what we would describe as a golden age for the British novel.”

Austen’s writing career coincides with a “vast expansion” of readership and literacy with the new concept of circulating libraries at the time, enabling people to read her books at a small cost, which they shared with others in drawing rooms as they read aloud.

“There’s a boom in novels then,” says Nicola. “In the 18th century, the dominant culture was the French novel. But now, suddenly, the British novel takes over as the production line for fiction and fiction has become respectable.”

But Nicola says that what set Austen apart was her skill at making domestic fiction so realistic. It was the time of the Napoleonic wars:

“Although we think of Jane Austen as somehow nostalgic – all the heroines wear bonnets – it was sharply contemporary, to the point of being set in the same year that it’s being published. So, this is fiction that is commenting upon contemporary wartime Britain.”

Additionally, Austen sets her novels in ordinary English towns and villages – not London. “It’s all heart of England stuff and you would be surprised at how few Regency writers were interested in provincial England,” says Nicola.

It was highly experimental for the time, as were the novels’ preoccupations – Austen’s novel Emma “seems to be about peace”.

What do you do when you are bored rigid in a village in the South of England and you’re a handsome, clever, rich young woman?

Nicola has the quick answer to that question: “Well, actually, what happens is you make trouble.”

Most of Austen’s own letters to family and friends that might have revealed more about her inner thoughts were destroyed by her sister, Cassandra. Which is why others supplied their own fictional versions, shoring up the “genius” tag, according to Nicola.

“Jane Austen as an idea has got loose from the novels themselves. Adaptations fill in the gaps and update all the time. So, there’s a way in which you can update this Englishness for all sorts of markets,” says Nicola.

And she adds:

“The novels start to be folded into her life and her life starts to be made to frame up the novels – they come to be mutually explanatory. And this is a prerequisite for becoming a genius because a person becomes disembodied as a result of this sort of amalgamation.”

On her role behind the scenes Nicola says: “It was a particular privilege to work on this programme because I work on reputations of authors, especially their biographies, but I’ve never worked on a docudrama before.”

Supporting Online content:

Visit our Broadcast & Partnerships site OU Connect, where you can step into the parlour where Jane Austen wrote her world-famous novels.

This series was commissioned by Broadcast and Partnerships and is supported by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, with particular relevance to BA (Honours) English Literature, MA in English Literature, and BA (Honours) English Literature and Creative Writing.

Commissioned by Dr Caroline Ogilvie, Director, Broadcast & Partnerships

• Academic Consultant: Dr Emma Claire Sweeney and Professor Nicola J Watson
• Media Fellow: Dr Emily Bullock
• Broadcast Project Manager: Matthew Ray

• Supporting Online Content: Xinmiao Zhang

Picture credit: BBC/72 Films/Balazs Glodi

ENDS