Jane Austen like you've never seen it before... DIRECTOR PUTS NAKED GIRL IN BATH FOR STEAMY ADAPTION.(News)

From: Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England) | Date: March 18, 2007

Byline: BY ROZ LAWS TV Editor

ACTRESS Felicity Jones has revealed how TV's latest Jane Austen adaptation became steamy in more ways than one.

The pretty Midlander is the heroine in Northanger Abbey, adapted for ITV1 by racy writer Andrew Davies.

He was the man who put Colin Firth in a wet shirt for Pride And Prejudice.

And he put Felicity NAKED in a bath in the middle of a field.

But the 22 year-old was more bothered about being in hot water than having to take her clothes off.

"Everyone was worried I'd be too cold," she says. "So they made the water really hot.

"It was boiling and I was nearly fainting with the heat of it!

"It was one of the strangest scenes I've ever done."

Felicity plays Catherine Mor-land, a naive teenager who reads Gothic novels and has sexy fantasies, such as imagining men duelling for her hand.

Andrew Davies has brought these to life, including one scene where Catherine is in the bath, daydreaming about Henry (played by actor JJ Field).

The floral wallpaper in the bathroom turns into real woodland and Catherine is suddenly out in a field. Then Henry appears and admires her naked form. Viewers see her in the buff from behind when she stands up.

"None of the scenes are gratuitous," insists Warwickshire writer Andrew. "But I do bring out the sexual content which is inherent in the material.

"In the 19th century it was the convention never to write directly about sexual matters, so I'm just giving it a bit of a nudge.

"I've always through it a drag that in so many period adaptations they are always buttoned up to the neck in so many clothes.

"I'm always looking for excuses to get them out of their clothes!"

But Felicity reveals that Andrew was thwarted in one of his bids for nudity.

"In the original draft, Catherine sees Henry completely naked," explains the Birmingham actress.

"But the director thought that was a bit too far-fetched and would never happen.

"It makes a change from female nudity - and I would have been fine with it!

"But JJ Field was quite relieved he didn't have to do it."

ITV1's Jane Austen season begins today with Billie Piper in Mansfield Park and continues next week with Northanger Abbey.

The role marks Felicity's return to television after a three-year break, while she was taking an English Literature degree at Oxford University.

She gained 10 GCSEs and three A grades at A Level at Kings Norton Girls School in Birmingham, and has acted professionally from the age of 12.

She starred in the TV series The Worst Witch and was cast as Emma Carter in The Archers.

Felicity helped the Birmingham-made Radio 4 soap achieve record ratings with a racy 'Who's the daddy?' storyline involving brothers Ed and William Grundy.

She married William - but left him after having a baby with Ed!

The Archers was the only acting job that Felicity continued while at Oxford.

"I was commuting to Birmingham, reading books on the train, recording a few episodes then coming back and going to the library," she says.

"University was a good testing ground to see whether I still wanted to act. Now I can't imagine doing anything else."

For anyone else, taking a three-year break might have killed their career. But Felicity got the Northanger Abbey part in her first audition, just two weeks after graduating.

Then she spent four months making the forthcoming Channel 4 drama series Cape Wrath, a psychological thriller starring David Morrissey.

She's now rehearsing for That Face, a play at the Royal Court with Lindsay Duncan.