Miss Austen Regrets was shown on BBC1 in March. Unlike the feature film Becoming Jane which told of a romance between Jane and a young Irishman before she found fame as an author, this absorbing 90-minute drama was based on the life and letters of Jane’s final years. Despite the underlying sadness of a writer who caught the spirit of romance so well yet never met her Mr Darcy, it is both touching and enjoyable not least for the strong-willed yet endearing sensitivity of the performance by Olivia Williams in the title-role.

Jenny Muskett’s score is suitably understated yet mirrors the different facets of Jane’s personality, shying away from the open-air vivacity of Carl Davis’s score for Pride and Prejudice with Melvyn Tan’s fortepiano. There’s a scaling down in orchestral numbers in Miss Austen Regrets as Muskett works with smaller forces, dictated no doubt by a tighter budget. There are no strings, just synthesiser with piano, yet within these strictures her music does convey the etiquette of the time in cues like “After Dinner Speeches”, “Courtship, Proposal” and “A Social Engagement” as well as exploring the heartache felt by Jane herself (as in the final cue), as she steers her niece through myriad infatuations while wondering if her last chance has passed her by. This short souvenir, just half an hour long, is a touching memento of a very human being whose work was touched by genius.