Binge ‘Sanditon on Masterpiece’ over the next three Sundays at 7 p.m.

Airing Sunday, Dec. 13, Dec. 20 and Dec. 27 at 7 p.m –  Jane Austen was chronically ill with a mysterious disease in early 1817, when she turned her thoughts to a happier subject. She started work on a witty and delightful novel set in a seaside town. She never finished it. Now, noted screenwriter Andrew Davies (“Pride and Prejudice,” “Les Misérables,” Primetime Emmy® winner for “Little Dorrit”) picks up Austen’s plot and takes it in a glorious and satisfying direction, on “Sanditon.”

MASTERPIECE’s bold and lavish adaptation of Jane Austen’s final work stars Rose Williams as Austen’s lively but levelheaded heroine, Charlotte Heywood; Theo James as the humorous, charming (and slightly wild!) Sidney Parker; Anne Reid as the forthright grande dame of Sanditon, Lady Denham; Kris Marshall (formerly of “Death in Paradise”) as Sanditon’s compulsively enterprising promoter, Tom Parker; and Crystal Clarke as the mysterious West Indian heiress, Miss Lambe.

MORE: Listen to our interview with ASU’s Devoney Looser on “Sanditon” and Jane Austen, the first two episodes of our podcast “Nerdcast from Arizona PBS.”