I looked up the cast before I saw the new film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, thinking: “Who could be as good as Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet?” because of course I did. One, they were peerless and two, this is the condition of middle age, constantly looking at the world thinking: “This could be considerably improved by the presence of Emma Thompson.”

The notable casting update was Col Brandon, whose passion for Marianne would now be known as an “age gap” relationship. In the last film, Alan Rickman (born 1946) was in love with Winslet (born 1975), who cycles through a fair amount of: “Yuck, no thanks,” before having an epiphany.

Sorry if that spoiled the end. I don’t really see Jane Austen as a suspense-monger.

Winslet could easily have been Rickman’s daughter and, biologically speaking, just about his granddaughter. In the 90s, though, the age gap was a distant second consideration to the fact that Brandon was grumpy and boring, although his gruff exterior masked a serious mind and a heart of gold. I have my own thoughts........

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