Fanny Price is probably Jane Austen's least-loved heroine. Fanny is exceptionally shy and retiring, and kind of the polar opposite of Elizabeth Bennett in the self-assertion department. And I suppose that it doesn't help that these days "fanny" is a fairly vulgar piece of slang in British English. Nevertheless, like all of Austen's books, there's much to admire in Mansfield Park. I suppose it's "because Fanny" there are relatively few TV or movie interpretations of this book.

I was recently given a partial set of the BBC's 1970s and 1980s interpretations of all of Austen's books as DVD (the owner gave them away because a couple in the set were broken). The only one I'd seen was "Northanger Abbey," because when I first looked for a version of that book on film in 2004, it was the only one in existence. That one is very bad: a poor and heavily edited script was handed to a couple bad actors who had about as much romantic attraction as a couple pieces of dryer lint. So my hopes for this one were low.

Let's start with this: this version is far more accurate and complete than the 1999 Rozema version (which I love, but no one would call "accurate"). This is a six episode, five hour BBC TV production from 1983.

The acting isn't stellar, but it's competent, and after the first half hour I was thoroughly invested. Austen is a damn fine writer, and they stuck close to her text. The cinematography varies between workman-like and uninspired, and occasional rather brilliant two-shots. And they put Fanny in the background a lot - which feels like a very odd choice when she's nominally the lead. But it's appropriate for her character, and actually works.

Jonny Lee Miller has a role, so young (10 or 11) I didn't recognize him. It's a very small role, but worth mentioning because Miller plays Edmund in the Rozema version.

Highly recommended for fans of Austen.