‘Sanditon’ Showrunner Says “It Would Have Felt Wrong” Not to Include Queer Romance

Sanditon on Masterpiece on PBS is a show that loves love. The third season of the loose Jane Austen adaptation doesn’t just follow leading lady Charlotte Heywood’s (Rose Williams) romantic journey, but everyone else’s. That includes long-time Sanditon bachelor Arthur Parker (Turlough Convery). Arthur has been a beloved Sanditon character since the beginning, but he didn’t give his heart to another until this season…when he met the Duke of Buckinghamshire, Lord Harry Montrose (Edward Davis).

Yes, Sanditon gave us a queer love story in a Jane Austen adaptation. It’s tender and sweet and still historically accurate to the Regency period.

Sanditon showrunner Justin Young told Decider that there was “absolutely no pushback at all from anyone” at Masterpiece when they pitched the gay romance. “I think the challenge became how to give it the same dynamic as a heterosexual male/female Austen story without being anachronistic.”

“Because obviously two men can’t kiss in public because at that point, there was the death penalty for same sex relationships. And so, it was trying to give it the same status, the same weight, the same energy as any other Austen love story, but without being too anachronistic.”

Young said that they researched homosexual relationships in Regency England to “honor the truth of what would have happened.” They came upon numerous queer-coded subtextual references to queer couples.”There was a man who lived with his very close friend that we can understand what the dynamic was. But obviously, you couldn’t live an openly gay lifestyle in, in that period really.”

Sanditon executive producer Belinda Campbell pointed out that even Jane Austen’s books contain at least once nod to gay sex. “I mean, obviously [Austen] never wrote explicitly about same sex relationships, but she did sort of allude time to time about possibly gay kind of activities.”

There’s a line in Mansfield Park where the flirtatious and witty Mary Crawford says, “Certainly, my home at my uncle’s brought me acquainted with a circle of admirals. Of Rears and Vices, I saw enough. Now do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat.” Crawford’s, and therefore Austen’s, awareness that “Rears and Vices” have a double entendre (especially within the Navy at that time) is what is significant. Jane Austen knew about homosexuality.

“Obviously it’s something that that happened and has always happened,” Campbell said. “It’s this idea of bringing into the light stuff that she alluded to in the shadows.”

But did Sanditon always intend to give Arthur Parker a queer love story? No.

“So the funny story about that is that in Season 1, Andrew Davies wrote a line where Arthur says to his sister Diana, ‘Oh,’ — I can’t remember the exact line but — ‘I’m not the marrying kind,” Young said. “And I don’t think Andrew specifically meant in that moment for Arthur to ‘out’ himself. It was just, you know, he’s a bachelor. And I think all of us watching that and actually some of the audience kind of went, ‘That feels like, you know, is he saying he’s queer? Is that what that moment is?'”

Belinda Campbell also put all the credit for the idea on actor Turlough Convery’s performance. “I think that Turlough’s portrayal in earlier series made us sort of think that this was an interesting avenue to explore with him. Because he hadn’t had his love story and it felt much, much more authentic and truthful to tell that story than a sort of a more regular regency romance with a lovely girl because obviously he’s sort of someone who’s always put other people first.”

“It’s almost like he’s denied himself, you know, happiness and an emotional life and then we discover why.”

Young said it was an “absolute no-brainer” to finally explore Arthur’s sexuality in Sanditon Season 3. “We love Arthur as a character. I mean, we absolutely loved him and we thought, ‘Well, he deserves a love interest as much as anyone else.'”

“How can we tell a gay love story within a kind of Austen grammar? We thought that would be really fun.”

Young and his writers room settled on a coded scene where Henry broaches his own homosexuality in terms of taste. Some like grouse and some like pheasant.

“When Turlough first read that scene, he was concerned because he thought it was comic,” Young said. “And I said, ‘No, no, no, no. You have to play this. It’s not funny at all. You have to play it absolutely straight.’ And I think it’s a lovely scene.”

“I think Turlough’s acting in this series is just next level. I think he plays it so beautifully and to see a man discover himself in that way, I think we all found really, really moving.”

Young said that they were happy to tell Arthur and Harry’s story in the final season of Sanditon. “It would have felt wrong not to have [a queer romance] amid all of these love stories because as you may have noticed, there’s a lot of love stories in Season 3. It would have been wrong not to have all different kinds of love represented.”