Jane Austen’s last, incomplete novel gets a stunning finish in the third and final season of “Sanditon,” MASTERPIECE’s acclaimed continuation of the story and characters created by Austen in her fascinating fragmentary work. “Sanditon,” season three wraps up the plot in six satisfying episodes airing March 19, to April 2023 at 8 p.m. on Panhandle PBS.
Set amid the romantic intrigues of an English seaside resort in the early 1800s, the MASTERPIECE series has been called “a balmy retreat” (Salon), “lush and fun” (New York Times), and “perfect escapist fare” (Indiewire).
“We’re sad to take leave of this marvelous series, which has all the wit and joy expected of a Jane Austen-inspired drama,” says Susanne Simpson, Executive Producer of MASTERPIECE. “We know viewers will be on the edge of their seats as the final pieces fall into place.”
True to themes from other Austen novels, the first two seasons raised and dashed various matrimonial prospects for the heroines, played by Rose Williams (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris) and Crystal Clarke (Empire of Light).
Williams appears as Charlotte Heywood, a young woman from the country whom fate has thrust into the social scene in Sanditon, which is vying to become the go-to spa for fashionable aristocrats and gentry. Although her father intends her to marry local farmer Ralph Starling (Cai Brigden, Summer of Rockets), Charlotte has attracted the attention of some of Sanditon’s most eligible bachelors—among them the enigmatic Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes, The Crown), a landowner with a mysterious past.
Clarke’s character, Georgiana Lambe, faces an entirely different problem. A mixed-race heiress from the West Indies, she can’t trust any of her suitors, because in all probability they are only interested in her fortune. The two women bond over these courtship dilemmas as well as their resolve to forge their own destinies.
Returning cast members include Flora Mitchell as Colbourne’s tomboyish young daughter, Leonora, and Eloise Webb (The Queen’s Gambit) as his rebellious niece, Augusta, who falls for a questionable admirer. Kris Marshall (Death in Paradise) reprises his role as Sanditon’s tireless promoter, Tom Parker, joined by Kate Ashfield (A Confession) as his principled wife, Mary, and Turlough Convery (Les Misérables) as his ebullient brother Arthur.
Also back are Anne Reid (Last Tango in Halifax) as the imperious Lady Denham; Jack Fox (Cheaters) as her dissolute nephew, Edward; and Sophie Winkleman (The Chronicles of Narnia) as Charlotte’s high-society friend, Lady Susan, who happens to be the king’s mistress.
Romantic possibilities are abound this season with the addition of new cast members including Emma Fielding (Cranford) as the financially distressed Lady Montrose, who arrives in Sanditon to snare matches for her grown children: Lydia (Alice Orr-Ewing, The Theory of Everything), who is an independent-minded young woman; and Lord Henry Montrose (Edward Davis, Emma), a duke whose title alone is an attractive selling point, if he is perhaps less suitable in other ways. James Bolam (The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner) plays Rowleigh Pryce, a crusty investor whom Tom Parker is courting to bankroll a new hotel in Sanditon, subject to Lady Denham’s approval. It turns out that Pryce and Lady Denham share a very interesting past.
