PBS to showcase Jane Austen

PBS announced with pride Monday that it has a prejudice for Jane Austen.

The noncommercial network said that, beginning in January, it would turn over “Masterpiece Theatre” to a four-month marathon of works by the famed British author: Repeats of 1997’s “Emma,” with Kate Beckinsale, and 1996’s “Pride and Prejudice,” with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and new productions of “Northanger Abbey,” “Persuasion,” “Mansfield Park” and “Sense and Sensibility.”

Capping what will be presented as “The Complete Jane Austen” is “Miss Austen Regrets,” a drama about the life of the 19th century writer, based on her letters and diaries.

All four of the new Austen adaptations are by Andrew Davies, who did the earlier two screenplays too.

“Presenting Austen’s novels consecutively is a brilliant idea because they reinforce each other -- and they’re not too long,” Davies said in a statement released by PBS. “Airing all of Dickens would take five years!”

Lee Margulies