Into The Austenverse

Hosts Lisa Campbell and David Campbell kick off a “Steinbeckverse” detour ahead of their upcoming Sense and Sensibility coverage, prompted by Netflix’s new East of Eden series starring Florence Pugh (releasing October 1). They discuss Steinbeck’s 1952 novel as his magnum opus, its two-family saga (Trasks and Hamiltons), and how the 1955 Elia Kazan film adapts only the book’s final section. After watching the James Dean version, they discuss Dean’s naturalistic, method-influenced performance and strong work from Jo Van Fleet and discuss the filmmaking elements like the overture, loud score, obvious studio backdrops, and abrupt pacing. They unpack key themes (Cain and Abel, inherited “badness,” war profiteering) and touch on Kazan’s controversy over naming names during McCarthyism, linking it to Zoe Kazan leading the new adaptation.

DIZZY AND JIMMY - The book DC references

ORSON WELLES ON ELIA KAZAN

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DC and Lisa celebrate the one-year anniversary of Into the Austenverse and reflect on global listenership and standout guests before welcoming award-winning writer/showrunner/executive producer Liz Doran to discuss Netflix’s My Brilliant Career. Doran shares how she came to the story via the film, pitched Netflix first, and developed a “dirty-hemmed, unbuttoned” Australian period drama with detailed realism, expanded First Nations storylines through First Nations writers and consultants, and a reimagined Harry with Chinese heritage, plus specific symbolic choices like native flowers and black cockatoo feathers. Actors Philippa Northeast (Sybylla) and Kate Mulvany (Augusta) join to discuss casting, building character through collaboration, working with Christopher Chung, filming key scenes like the New Year’s Eve party, and why the series’ themes of agency and ambition resonate worldwide, while hoping it inspires more Australian literary adaptations.

 ***Warning - there is a spicy discussion about Sybylla’s sex life in the interview with Pip and Kate.***

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Lisa hosts solo while David is at Channel 9, recommending Joanna Nadin’s “After Darcy,” a funny, risqué, joyful Pride and Prejudice modern day sequel and previewing Sunday’s final “Franklinverse” interviews with Liz Doran and stars Kate Mulvany and Philippa Northeast.   In the interview, Nadin explains she shifted from serious women’s fiction to more commercial comedy after publishing changes, drawing on her YA Austen-inspired series, and focusing on the Bennet sisters as older women dealing with kids, divorce, and difficult teens. She describes her process of “hanging out” with characters, casting actors in her head, and building plot needs into modern jobs and details (including Lydia’s reality TV fame and ADHD diagnosis). Nadin discusses her Austen exposure via adaptations, Press Gang’s influence, her career in journalism and UK political speechwriting.

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David and Lisa Campbell discuss the final two episodes of the Netflix miniseries My Brilliant Career, opening with a Henry Lawson letter praising Miles Franklin.  They recap the post–New Year’s Eve fallout as Sybylla faces her grandmother reading her journal, tensions around Harry and Blanche, and escalating consequences for Frank and others on Federation Day. The conversation highlights themes of men constrained by patriarchy, women supporting and freeing each other (Nell, Betty, Helen, Gussie), and symbolism such as horses and harnesses, alongside vivid production design contrasts between Caddagat, Possum Gully, and the M’Swats. They praise performances—especially Philippa Northeast and Genevieve O’Reilly—compare Franklin’s ending to rom-com expectations, and note recent critical coverage, then announce upcoming interviews with showrunner Liz Doran and stars Philippa Northeast and Kate Mulvany plus a bonus Austenverse episode on After Darcy.

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In this special bonus episode of Into The Austenverse, Lisa interviews Julia Gray and Imogen Russell Williams about their new book, Kitty and Mary. It was born from their long friendship, shared love of Jane Austen, and a desire to revisit Pride and Prejudice by following the two Bennet sisters left unmarried. They each wrote one sister’s voice in an epistolary format, creating a “conversation” between Kitty, Mary, and themselves, with letters and journals allowing readers to see what the sisters reveal and conceal, including strikethrough moments. Imogen describes researching Mary’s India storyline using British Library ship logs and the impact of months-long letter delays, while Julia researched early publishing (using John Murray as a framework), amateur theatricals, and medicine/childbirth for Kitty’s arc, including her growing relationship with words. They talk about writing for a YA publisher with broad adult appeal, the benefits of accountability in collaboration, and a London Bushwick Book Club night featuring songs responding to the book.

Kitty and Mary is published by Andersen Press and is out NOW!

More about the Bushwick Book Club's night of Kitty and Mary here.

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David and Lisa Campbell recap episodes 3 and 4 of Netflix’s My Brilliant Career, celebrating Alexander England’s Uncle J.J., unpacking Everard’s role in Sybylla’s theatre opportunity and Harry’s shaky finances, and discussing Harry’s farm-mortgage scheme and the pressure to marry Blanche. They touch on Australia’s 1901 federation and women’s property rights, reveal Helen’s husband abandoned her, and praise Liz Doran’s additions, including deeper LGBTQ themes and richly integrated First Nations storylines shaped by Indigenous writers and creatives, highlighting characters like Charlie and Betty. They also debate adaptation “faithfulness,” rave about the heavily Shazamed soundtrack (Thelma Plum, Kate Miller-Heidke, “Scarborough Fair,” possible Kylie?!), explain how Ernie Dingos stopped Lisa smoking.  

Join them back in the Austenverse on Thursday for a special interview with the authors of Kitty and Mary - a wonderful new book exploring further possibilities for two the Bennets!

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DC and Lisa return with a long-promised bonus episode featuring an interview with award-winning theatre maker and director Dean Bryant. They discuss their ongoing “Franklin-verse” coverage prompted by Netflix’s My Brilliant Career, plus upcoming episodes and delayed timing for Sense and Sensibility, and briefly mention Netflix’s East of Eden trailer.

In the interview, Bryant explains why he and creative partner Mathew Frank adapted My Brilliant Career into a musical, tracing its development from an Opera Victoria pitch through Monash University’s Jeanne Pratt residency, COVID-era reassessment, Sheridan Harbridge’s involvement, an actor-musician approach with Vicky Falconer, and MTC picking it up. He discusses the work’s cultural reverence, Sybylla’s radical choice, the production’s punk energy and casting Karla Gare, and previews his Malthouse adaptation of All About Eve with Christie Whelan Browne playing both Margo and Eve.

All About Eve premieres at Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne on 20th November and runs until 12th December 2026.

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DC and Lisa introduce their podcast’s pivot from Austen to Franklin with My Brilliant Career.  First there is some Austen News (whoosh) Then they are deep into the Franklinverse to celebrate My Brilliant Career’s Netflix success (No. 2 globally, 8 million views across 190 countries) and discuss how the series captures the book’s modern, fourth-wall-breaking voice, praising Philippa Northeast as Sybylla, Anna Chancellor as the grandmother, and Kate Mulvany’s complex Aunt Gussie, plus Christopher Chung as Harry Beecham. They compare the adaptation to the 1901 novel, outline Miles Franklin’s life and legacy, and note Netflix additions like Indigenous characters, modern music, and South Australian locations, teasing a bonus interview with musical co-writer Dean Bryant.

DC mentions Bush Idyll and The Pioneer by Frederick McCubbin.  

Lisa mentions Bob Downe.

Jeso.  They have Australian culture covered in this ep.

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David and Lisa Campbell wrap their Netflix Little House on the Prairie watch-along with episodes 7 and 8.  DC and Lisa talk about the merits of the show, its handling of the most complex of subjects and some off piste discussions about Colonel Sanders’ involvement in a murder.  

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David and Lisa Campbell recap Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie episodes 5 and 6 in the podcast temporarily known as Into The Ingallsverse.  Episode 5 centres on multiple characters avoiding the truth.  We venture to the Women’s Society as Ma and the girls encounter exclusion and racism, including Emily being barred, Lacey emerges as the decisive MVP, and Mr. Edwards’ past is revealed when he explains his wife and daughters died of cholera. Episode 6 is a cozy Christmas installment with a new baby, a lavish general-store celebration and the gift of sweet potatoes. They also discuss the film Wicker (adapted from The Wicker Husband), a coming Pete Dominick bonus episode, and Lisa’s sinister theory about the whereabouts of  Caleb’s missing father…

See Lisa’s rubbish gingerbread greenhouse and DC with Alexander Skarsgard here @in2theaustenverse 

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