Felicity Jones stars as the protagonist Catherine Morland and JJ Feild plays her love interest Henry Tilney.

When she is asked to stay at Northanger Abbey, Catherine's youthful and naive imagination takes hold and she begins to confuse real life with the Gothic romance of her favourite novels.

Isabella catches the eye of Henry's older brother, Captain Frederick Tilney, and flirts with him after she learns how low James' income will be.

"[2] On 10 November 2005, Julia Day from The Guardian reported that ITV controller of drama, Nick Elliott, had ordered three new adaptations of Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Her stories always make great TV drama and our Jane Austen season will feature the absolute cream of British acting talent.

"[4] Elliott revealed that he had deliberately shied away from ordering adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility to focus on Austen's lesser known works.

Davies said that part of the back story was having the heroine read the 1764 best-seller The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, which he uses to fill Catherine's head with the expectation of unspeakable secrets in the Abbey.

[6] During an interview with Marion McMullen from the Coventry Evening Telegraph, Davies explained that the Gothic elements to the novel gave him inspiration to add dream sequences and fantasies to the script.

Catherine is a great reader of horror fiction – the gothic novel was fairly popular in those days, like a young girl today who would read a lot of rather steamy romances.

[8] Producer Keith Thompson said Davies had made Northanger Abbey a bit more erotic than the novel and thought the script had "a wonderful cheekiness to it.

[1] Karen Price from the Western Mail reported ITV were looking for "big names" and promised the best British acting talent, while they were casting the three adaptations.

[12] Other Irish actors cast in the production included Liam Cunningham as the "eccentric" General Tilney and Gerry O'Brien and Julia Dearden as Mr. and Mrs. Morland respectively.

[22][23] The Independent's Sarah Shannon stated that ITV had filmed in the country "largely thanks to the generous tax incentives offered by the republic's government.

[22] British composer Charlie Mole wrote the score to Northanger Abbey, while the Pemberley Players provided other authentic pieces of music.

"[2] Jones praised Mythen and said the teacher often reminded the actors to relax into the dance and remember that their character would have been doing it for years, as they would have learnt at an early age.

[35] In April of that year, ITV announced they would be making a range of classic programmes, including the adaptation of Northanger Abbey, available to purchase through the iTunes Store.

"[39][40][41][42] Jade Wright of the Liverpool Echo thought the adaptation had showed "a good-natured and frank Catherine", with Jones managing to "combine humility and humour with perfect aplomb.

[18] A The Guardian reporter included Northanger Abbey in their feature on the week's television highlights, saying "Yes, yes, more Austin [sic], but Andrew Davies' adaptation of one of her lighter novels is the perfect Sunday evening blend of eruditeness and pretty frocks.

Felicity Jones catches Morland's mix of youthful naivety, heart-whole feelings and mindful beliefs perfectly and J.J. Feild, as the dishy but sensible Tilney, grows in appeal as this feature-length drama builds to a climax.

[45] However, Ruth Ritchie, writing for the same newspaper, stated that the makers of the adaptation tried "desperately to create an air of mystery about the dastardly deeds at Northanger Abbey," but the audience knew it was about as scary as "a ninja turtle.

"[46] Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times wrote "Northanger Abbey the novel was as fun as it gets for Austen, and the television film quite lives up to the same standard.

"[47] Ginia Bellafante, a critic for The New York Times, proclaimed the drama gave the audience "innocent faces and heaving breasts, hyperbolizing the sex that always lurks beneath the surface of Austen's astringent presence.

[32] The San Francisco Chronicle's David Wiegand wrote "Persuasion is a bigger challenge to try to squeeze into 90 minutes, the real difference between that film and Northanger is the latter's consistency of high-quality performances, a careful and attentive adaptation by Andrew Davies and solid direction by Jon Jones.

"[48] Writing for The Daily Telegraph, James Walton observed "Northanger Abbey was a perfectly acceptable costume drama – but not one that ever really caught fire.

"[49] Simon Hoggart, writing for The Spectator, commented that Davies's adaptation of Northanger Abbey "was much bolder and more confident than Mansfield Park the week before.

"[50] The Hollywood Reporter's Ray Bennett praised Northanger Abbey, calling it "a wonderfully evocative version", which was "written with flair and imagination by Andrew Davies".

[1] He proclaimed "Capturing vividly the flush and wonder of adolescence, the film mines Austen's first-written but last-published novel to find purest nuggets of wit, romance and social satire.

The story's 18th-century heroine, Catherine Morland, has a fevered imagination and Davies draws on Austen's droll illustrations of it to create scenes of gothic adventure.

"[1] Bennett added "the film is shot beautifully by Ciarán Tanham while composer Charlie Mole's score adds to the quickening pace of Catherine's fantasies.