Known for hit shows such as Netflix’s Bodies and BBC’s Clique, Glasgow-born Synnøve Karlsen’s next small-screen role is in the story of a woman behind a vast literary legacy. Historical miniseries Miss Austen is an adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name by Gill Hornby, centred around Cassandra, sister of the more famous Jane. Having played Clarice Orsini, a 15th-century noblewoman caught up in political skullduggery in Medici, Karlsen is no stranger to the past.

‘One of the reasons I wanted to be an actor is because I love reading about specific people’s stories within the context of history and trying to embody that, learning about tiny intricacies of a time or stories about chimney sweeps,’ says Karlsen. ‘Especially for Miss Austen, I found little details so informative for the character, alongside Andrea’s brilliant writing.’ Andrea Gibb (who adapted Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies for the BBC in 2022 to great acclaim) has teamed up with director Aisling Walsh to create a portrayal of the close bond between the sisters, who called themselves ‘the formidables’ at a particularly restrictive time for women. 

Playing young Cassandra (with Keeley Hawes as the character in later years) alongside a strong cast including Jessica Hynes and Rose Leslie, Karlsen had to discover the essence of the girl who would later become a pivotal figure in the middle of a burning literary mystery. ‘What happens when she’s young informs her older self, but not the other way round,’ says Karlsen. ‘So the role was a bit more intuitive, just matching idiosyncrasies. We didn’t try too hard to be in sync with every idea and every concept because you change so much over a lifetime.’

And the Austen sisters do create change, both throughout their lives and in literary history. Although many of the letters written by Jane to her sister play a significant role in understanding more about the famous author, a large portion were infamously burned by Cassandra, decades after Jane’s death. Delving into Cassandra’s young mindset, Karlsen has engaged with new aspects of her character through Hornby’s narrative lens. History may have painted an imperfect picture of ‘the other Austen sister’, denying some of her finer qualities, but these are uncovered in the four-part drama.

‘Cassandra sees Jane for who she is and is fascinated by her,’ notes Karlsen who will be back on small screens later this year in the next season of Apple TV+’s sci-fi series Foundation. ‘When they’re younger, they’re just going through life together, but with a unique closeness. It becomes the driving force of Cassandra’s life to be that support for Jane. It’s like that quote “behind every great man stands a great woman”. [Jane] Austen was the first of her kind, in terms of a great female author, and Cassandra was that great woman who was standing behind her. Without that love and unconditional belief, I don’t think that Jane would have been able to have been so successful.’

Miss Austen is on Sundays on BBC One, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.