IT IS a quintessentially English novel by one of Britain’s best-loved authors and set in one of its most unique cities, Bath. But a new television serialisation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey by ITV is to be filmed entirely in Ireland.

Much to the dismay of the burghers of Bath, the costume drama, which will feature in ITV’s Jane Austen Season next year, has been lured by the tax breaks Ireland offers television drama, which are similar to those for films and are no longer available in Britain.

“Obviously, we are disappointed,” said David Baldock, director of the Jane Austen Centre in Bath. “Ideally, because the place names in Northanger Abbey still exist in Bath, it would be more authentic to film it here. Apart from street furniture and road markings, the streets of Bath have hardly changed.

“I realise that costs are a big factor in film-making and they are getting a better arrangement in Ireland.”

It is the latest television project to film in Ireland despite having a classic English setting. The Tudors, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII, is currently filming in Ardmore studios. The €29m series will bring €19m to the local economy through expenditure on personnel, goods and services.

Becoming Jane, a movie about Austen’s life starring Anne Hathaway, has just finished filming in Ireland and is due for cinema release early next year. A lavish ball from the late 18th century was re-created in Charleville Forest Castle in Offaly for the story of the real-life love of a 19-year-old Austen for a roguish Irishman, Tom Lefroy.

Bath was used for the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Persuasion, and its 1980s version of Northanger. But now the city’s unique architecture — the Royal Crescent makes it one of the UK’s finest examples of Georgian architecture — will be re-created in sets in Ireland and on Georgian estates and streets in Dublin and Wicklow. Producers have identified a number of buildings that can double for Bath.

Charles Elton, the executive producer of Northanger Abbey, said: “Not only is Ireland full of Georgian architecture, but it also has a freshness which looks and feels different to England, where most other Austens are filmed. I have filmed in Ireland before and the crews are always wonderful, which helps.”

James Flynn, an Irish producer on the project, confirmed that the entire project would be shot here. Filming will begin in late summer but the cast has yet to be confirmed.

“Ireland lends itself well to period drama such as Jane Austen, with its big estate houses and country gardens,” he said.

Janeites, as devotees of Austen like to call themselves, are notoriously protective of the author’s work. Given that Northanger Abbey is being adapted for television by Andrew Davies, they are more assured of a faithful rendering of the story. The Cardiff-born writer won a Bafta for his adaptation of Bleak House for the BBC, and scripted the station’s highly acclaimed 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.

ITV’s Austen season will also include Mansfield Park, starring Billie Piper as Fanny Price, and Persuasion, which goes into production this year. The box office success of Pride & Prejudice showed that the public’s appetite for costume dramas based on Austen’s work has not waned. The BBC will air an adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, also by Davies, in 2007.

“There has been an upsurge in TV because the tax credit in the UK doesn’t include television, so you have a lot of UK broadcasters looking at Ireland,” said Flynn, who is also involved in The Tudors and Becoming Jane.

“Because it has gone quiet on the film end, there are very strong crews available in Ireland. A lot of the projects that are being made in Ireland are for high-end TV in the UK. It is a combination of subject matter, the tax credit and the availability of film crews.”

“Ireland is enjoying a high volume of TV drama production from the UK and US, as well as Germany and France,” confirmed Naoise Barry, film commissioner. “International TV drama will play a large part in inward investment levels, exceeding €100m in 2006. The additional availability of Irish Film Board investment to American series such as The Tudors and UK shows like Murphy’s Law, mean the combined package of Irish financial incentives for TV is proving a winning formula.

“On the other hand, because there is no longer any natural advantage in UK/Irish co-production, ensuring feature films locate in Ireland is challenging. In the face of the new UK tax credit, and the continuing weakness of the US dollar, we currently lag behind in our ability to attract feature films, particularly from the US.”

Kitchen, a two-part drama for Channel Five in Britain, is currently casting in Dublin and will be filmed on location in Ireland for six weeks. The €3.7m project, which is set in Glasgow, will be directed by Kieran J Walsh, who made When Brendan Met Trudy.

And Rough Diamond, a BBC series from the makers of Ballykissangel and set in the Irish horse-racing world, will film for 14 weeks in Meath and Kildare from the end of July.

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