ITV's "Jane Austen Season"

Anthony Head as Sir Walter Elliott, with Sally Hawkins (left) as Anne Elliott, in the new ITV production of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

ITV has commissioned new productions of Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey, which air here later this month. I'm especially looking forward to seeing Anthony Head (Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Sir Walter Elliott in Persuasion. If our ITV reception doesn't improve in the next couple of weeks, we'll have another chance to watch the same three productions in the United States in November, when they air on Masterpiece Theater.