Sneak Peek: BBC’s Miss Austen Will Air In 2025

At the end of 2023, the BBC teased Jane Austen fans with news of a brand new series – not based on one of her timeless romantic classic novels, but instead delving into the life of the author’s sister, Cassandra. And now, almost a year later, we finally have a sneak preview of Miss Austen – as well as a release date…

BBC’s Miss Austen: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Time to meet a new Austen heroine – but this one was actually related to the author. Directed by BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Aisling Walsh and produced by Stella Merz, Miss Austen centres on Jane’s older sister, Cassandra, and tells a witty yet heartbreaking story of sisterly love.

Cassandra Austen (Keeley Hawes) in Miss Austen. (Robert Viglasky/Bonnie Productions/MASTERPIECE)

What Is Miss Austen About?

Miss Austen centres on Cassandra Austen (Keeley Hawes), Jane’s older sister. Beginning in 1830, Jane has been dead for many years, and Cassandra rushes to visit the niece of her long-dead fiancé, Isabella (Rose Leslie), who is about to lose her home following her father’s death. Ostensibly, Cassandra is there to help Isabella – but the truth is, she is on the hunt for a bundle of private letters she fears could, in the wrong hands, destroy Jane’s reputation.

Cassandra thankfully finds the letters. On discovering them, she is transported back to her youth. In a flashback, Cassy and Jane navigate the romantic infatuations, family feuds and dashed hopes which ultimately shaped their lives – and laid the foundations for Jane’s stories. Re-evaluating her past, Cassandra is eventually able to guide Isabella towards a path of true happiness.

Jane Austen (Patsy Ferran), Eliza Fowle (Madeleine Walker), Cassy Austen (Synnøve Karlsen) & Young Mary (Liv Hill) in Miss Austen. (Robert Viglasky/Bonnie Productions/MASTERPIECE)

The Cast

Miss Austen is star-studded, featuring a cast chock-full of familiar faces, including:

• Keeley Hawes as Cassandra Austen
• Synnøve Karlsen as young Cassandra/Cassy
• Patsy Feran as young Jane
• Rose Leslie as Isabella Fowle
• Madeleine Walker as Eliza Fowle
• Phyllis Logan as Mrs Austen
• Max Irons as Henry Hobday
• Alfred Enoch
• Calam Lynch as Tom Fowle
• Liv Hill as young Mary
• Jessica Hynes
• Mirren Mack
• Kevin McNally

Cassy Austen (Synnøve Karlsen), Mrs. Austen (Phyllis Logan), Jane Austen (Patsy Ferran) in Miss Austen. (Robert Viglasky/Bonnie Productions/MASTERPIECE)

Is It Based On A Book?

Miss Austen isn’t based on anything written by Jane Austen – but it is based on a book. Miss Austen was written by Gill Hornby and published in 2020 garnering rave reviews from Austen fans. The synopsis reads:

England, 1840. For the two decades following the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen has lived alone, spending her days visiting friends and relations and quietly, purposefully working to preserve her sister’s reputation. Now in her sixties and increasingly frail, Cassandra goes to stay with the Fowles of Kintbury, family of her long-dead fiancé, in search of a trove of Jane’s letters. Dodging her hostess and a meddlesome housemaid, Cassandra eventually hunts down the letters and confronts the secrets they hold, secrets not only about Jane but about Cassandra herself. Will Cassandra bare the most private details of her life to the world, or commit her sister’s legacy to the flames?

Moving back and forth between the vicarage and Cassandra’s vibrant memories of her years with Jane, interwoven with Jane’s brilliantly reimagined lost letters, Miss Austen is the untold story of the most important person in Jane’s life. With extraordinary empathy, emotional complexity, and wit, Gill Hornby finally gives Cassandra her due, bringing to life a woman as captivating as any Austen heroine.

Is Miss Austen A True Story?

The book (and therefore the TV series) is based on a real mystery: why did Cassandra Austen burn most of her sister Jane’s letters? Today, only about 160 of the prolific writer’s circa. 3,000 letters survive, with Cassandra claiming she did not want nieces to read any of ‘Jane’s sometimes acid or forthright comments on neighbours or family members’ – but she also omitted details of family illnesses, unhappiness and anything she considered unsavoury. This was the starting point for Horby’s novel, but the rest is fiction.