Dame Julie Andrews will continue to lend her dulcet tones to the world of Jane Austen.
The stage and screen icon — an Oscar, BAFTA and multi Emmy and Grammy award winner — will return for a second season of “Jane Austen Stories” to narrate “Emma” in its unabridged form. Told exactly how Austen’s wrote it, “Emma” will be released in serialised episodes from Aug. 25 by U.K. podcast network Noiser.
Accompanied by original cinematic music and immersive sound design, the series will brings Austen’s words to life while remaining faithful to the author’s original text.
First published in 1815, “Emma” is one of Austen’s most enduring and entertaining novels, following the confident, well-meaning Emma Woodhouse as her attempts at matchmaking lead her into a series of increasingly complicated misunderstandings. More than 200 years later, her wit, social observations and wonderfully flawed characters remain as captivating as ever.
“Emma” — which will be told across 27 instalments — follows Noiser’s “Pride and Prejudice,” also narrated by Andrews, and the network’s “Sherlock Holmes Short Stories” series, narrated by Hugh Bonneville (“Paddington,” “Downton Abbey”), both of which have drawn millions of listeners worldwide.
Alongside the Noiser podcast series with Andrews, Austen’s novels are about to enjoy something of boom on screen. The feature adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility,” directed by Georgia Oakley and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esmé Creed-Miles, Caitríona Balfe, Frank Dillane, George MacKay, and Fiona Shaw, is releasing on Sep. 25 with Focus. Meanwhile, Netflix’s series adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” directed by Euros Lyn and starring Emma Corrin, Jack Lowden, Olivia Colman, Rufus Sewell, Daryl McCormack and Louis Partridge, is due for release later in the year.