Fanny and Linda
The new three-part period drama The Pursuit of Love is something of a labour of love for Emily Mortimer.
Not only does she take a supporting role as The Bolter (so named because of her habit of leaving her husbands), but the Mary Poppins Returns actress also directed the series and adapted the screenplay from the classic novel by Nancy Mitford.
So, it may come as a bit of a surprise that she didn’t originally come up with the idea of bringing the book (which has previously been filmed in 1980 and 2001, although both of those versions combined it with Mitford’s follow-up, Love in a Cold Climate) to the screen. It was actually her agent who secured the rights and asked if Emily would be interested in writing the script.
4 May 2021 • 6:00am
Lily James and Emily Beecham share a bath in a scene from the first episode of The Pursuit of Love
The Mitford sisters would doubtless approve. Emily Mortimer, the daughter of the novelist John Mortimer, has admitted she channelled her inner “punk” to make the raciest version yet of Nancy Mitford’s classic novel The Pursuit of Love.
As this first photograph from the BBC’s new lavish costume drama shows, it’s all drama and very little costume. The three-part serial, which begins screening on Sunday in the slot vacated by Line of Duty, takes the much-loved novel and sexes it up.
The Pursuit of Love: Why are we still so obsessed with the Mitford sisters? Jessie Thompson
Is there any greater example of the Problematic Fave than the Mitford sisters? They were posh, gossipy, fabulous, stylish and politically extreme. Were a couple of them – let’s just say it – outrageously right-wing? Yes. But are we still – myself included – completely fascinated by them? Very much yes. I don’t know how I’d have got through the darkest moments of winter lockdown without devouring a doorstop 500-page biography of them.
Next week, a gorgeous-looking adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s best and most-loved novel, The Pursuit of Love, will finally air on BBC One – and it’s only bound to renew interest in the sisters. Nothing seems less important right now than the private lives of the landed gentry. And yet, to use their parlance, do admit: the allure prevails.
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The Pursuit of Love: Why are we still so obsessed with the Mitford sisters? Jessie Thompson
Is there any greater example of the Problematic Fave than the Mitford sisters? They were posh, gossipy, fabulous, stylish and politically extreme. Were a couple of them – let’s just say it – outrageously right-wing? Yes. But are we still – myself included – completely fascinated by them? Very much yes. I don’t know how I’d have got through the darkest moments of winter lockdown without devouring a doorstop 500-page biography of them.
Next week, a gorgeous-looking adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s best and most-loved novel, The Pursuit of Love, will finally air on BBC One – and it’s only bound to renew interest in the sisters. Nothing seems less important right now than the private lives of the landed gentry. And yet, to use their parlance, do admit: the allure prevails.