Mansfield Park: A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

A captivating BBC radio dramatisation of Jane Austen's most overlooked novel

Sent away from her poverty-stricken parents in Portsmouth to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, nine-year-old Fanny Price is abruptly transplanted to a new, luxurious home: Mansfield Park. Overwhelmed by the grandeur of her surroundings, she feels out of place - and as she grows up, her spoiled cousins, Tom, Maria and Julia, never let her forget her humble beginnings. Only her cousin Edmund treats her with kindness, and the two become close companions.

But their lives are turned upside down when Sir Thomas goes away to visit his sugar plantation in the West Indies - and the charismatic Crawfords, Henry and Mary, arrive on the scene. Glamorous, attractive and flirtatious, they shake up the entire Bertram family - and leave Fanny grappling with emotions she's never felt before...

In Mansfield Park, Jane Austen gives us her subtlest and most unusual heroine: a displaced child, shaped by family and adversity, who becomes a quietly resolute young woman with an unshakeable moral code. This enthralling dramatisation focusses on the precariousness of Fanny's life - as a poor relation, unmarried, and living on an estate funded by sugar and slavery - and follows her as she navigates this high-stakes world with courage and conviction.

Production credits Written by Jane Austen Adapted by Clara Glynn Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane Directed by Bruce Young

Fanny Price - Lydia Wilson Edmund Bertram - Bryan Dick Mary Crawford - Tala Gouveia Henry Crawford - Tom Mothersdale Mrs Norris/Mrs Grant - Janice Acquah Lady Bertram - Madeleine Worrall Tom Bertram/William Price - Joshua Riley Sir Thomas - John Hollingworth Mr Rushworth- Samuel Valentine Maria Bertram - Faith Alabi Julia Bertram - Hollie Burgess

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10-17 July 2022

© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

© 2022 BBC Digital Audio (Lydbog): 9781529902358

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Lydbog: 25. august 2022