LONDON, July 9 — If you’re boating along London’s Serpentine river and see a gigantine, 12-foot Colin Firth rising out of the waters, be ye not alarmed, for the “Pride & Prejudice” statue is merely recreating a scene voted British TV’s most memorable moment.
UK free-to-air channel Drama TV commissioned not only the survey but also three sculptors to re-create the winning scene, a controversial addition to Jane Austen’s original text in which the smoldering Mr. Darcy takes a freshwater dip, as he and Elizabeth Bennett come closer to resolving their feelings for each other.
Though not bearing the stamp of Austen herself, it nonetheless won the hearts of many a view after its first airing in 1995.
Now just as well known for his turns in “Mamma Mia!” and “The King’s Speech,” Colin Firth established himself as an actor of considerable note with his portrayal of Darcy, leading to a role opposite Renée Zellweger in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”
Following the fiberglass Darcy’s stint in Hyde Park, London, it’s to appear at Scarborough beach in North Yorkshire—mentioned in passing during an exchange between the man in question and Miss Bennett—before settling at the TV series’s shirt-soaking setting, Lyme Park in Cheshire, where it will remain until February 2014. – AFP-Relaxnews
