Andrew Davies bucks conventions with his racy adaptation of Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon with his additional scenes of sex and male nudity, which has already caused a stir amongst critics.
The ITV period drama follows impulsive protagonist Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) as she relocates from her sleepy rural home to an exciting a fishing village named Sanditon, attempting to reinvent itself as a prosperous seaside resort.
The resort is home to an eccentric and cantankerous old woman named Lady Denham (Anne Reid), her enthusiastic business partner Tom Parker (Kris Marshall), and his elusive younger brother Sidney Parker (Theo James).
Austen began writing the novel in 1817, but stopped a few months later after completing 11 chapters. She died later that year.
BAFTA award-winning writer Davies - whose writing credits include Netflix's House of Cards and BBC's War & Peace - has adapted it into an eight-part series.
Actress Charlotte Spencer - who stars as Ester Denham, sister of the Jack Fox's villainous Sir Edward Denham - has laughed off the furore over the male nudity involving Jack Fox and Kris Marshall during a beach scene, and argued that it's not gratuitous because it's historically accurate.
'The men were briefed on the scene,' Spencer told Harper's Bazaar UK. 'They [producers] spoke to them about it. Anything they weren't comfortable with, they didn't do. It was a really fun time. It's also historically accurate - it's not there for no reason.'
It was customary at the time for men to bathe in the sea naked while women were wheeled to the shoreline in bathing machines covered from head to toe. She also ruminated that when women go naked, they're usually sexualised in ways that men aren't. When men go nude, there's often a comical element to it.
'It's like, guys, you have no idea how it's been for such a long time for females!' she continued. 'There's nearly always a job that will require nudity and you have to discuss this so much, and the difference is that it's a deeper thing when a woman does it as opposed to a man. A man can do it in a funny way, but usually with a woman nudity is always sexual. With this, it was for comical reasons. I find it so funny that people are outraged by the human body when we all have one.'
On the furtive sex act scene between Fox's Edward Denham and Lily Sacofsky's Clara Brereton, the 27-year-old Line of Duty star explained that it's integral to their storyline and will have repercussions, while exploring the misogynistic conventions of that time.
'Again, it's alluded to in the book but back then she [Austen] would never have been able to say that, it was a totally different time and a totally different era,' Spencer said. 'And yet we all know from stories of that era, and with the kings and queens who came from times before that, was all debauchery - especially in the higher classes.
'Of course they had sex! It's shocking to me that people are shocked. It was very important that Lily [who plays Clara] knew exactly what she was briefed on. I don't think she would have taken it on it if it didn't serve the story. It's not there for any no reason; it's there to push the story forward, and you'll understand when you see more of the episodes what it means. It's a really interesting storyline between me, Lily and Jack.'
Spencer added that the more 'modern' aspects of the drama which reflect real life 'humanises' the series and adds inclusivity.
There has been a positive shift in TV period dramas which are becoming more representative in terms of gender, sexuality and race. BBC One's Gentleman Jack celebrates feminist pioneer Anne Lister who was the first lesbian on record, and Poldark has finally cast an actor of colour by introducing Kerri McClean to the final series.
'I think what's happened is that we've been told these stories in a certain way, and that's not necessarily the way they need to be told,' Spencer continued. 'Crystal [Clarke - who plays Miss Georgiana Lambe] says Jane Austen included characters of colour, including her character heiress Miss Lambe, who was biracial [and Austen normalises Miss Lambe's position within English society].
'This story should be told not always as slaves or the underclass, that's not the story you need to be telling, it's the story of people in these roles in this world. The stories are real. Jane Austen wrote this. And I think it's important we don't shy away from that.
Spencer added: 'It's not about modernising it it's just about revealing more of the story than we've ever been told before. And for some reason, because we've only ever been told it in a certain light, all the sex was alluded to. Now we're telling it how it really is. We're humanising it more.'
ITV's Sanditon airs in autumn.
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Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
