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New York Magazine enthuses:

she does seem to radiate a sense of charm and familiarity in the way that reminds us more than a little of Drew Barrymore.

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With parts two and three to follow on subsequent Sunday nights, it features Charity as the impulsive Marianne Dashwood – a role taken by Kate Winslet in the award-winning 1995 film.

“I hadn’t watched any of the previous versions,” smiles Charity. “Kate is a wonderful actress but I really didn’t want to watch someone else be fantastic at it as I might have tried to copy what she did. This is a fresh look and a different way of telling the story.”

David Morrissey, Dominic Cooper, Hattie Morahan, Dan Stevens and Janet McTeer also lead the cast in this tale of two young sisters on a voyage of romantic discovery.

The death of their father has thrown their world into chaos. Along with their mother and youngest sister, they are forced to leave their grand house for a tiny cottage in Devon, surviving on a tiny income.

Dominic plays Willoughby, a dashing young neighbour who rescues Marianne after a fall on a hillside in the pouring rain.

“We were filming in Devon for a fortnight and filming was plagued by constant rain storms,” recalls Charity. “That’s fine for the days when we needed it to rain, but I learned that normal rain doesn’t show up on screen.

“So, even though it was raining, we still had to have these massive rain machines. We were drenched. By the end of the day, you’ve been out in the rain for so long you’re soaked through and exhausted.”

It was, perhaps, even worse for her co-star as his character has to pick Marianne up. He fell over on the first attempt. “We were in the middle of nowhere and there was no refuge,” says Dominic. “Charity was shaking.”

Fortunately, she dried off in time to film scenes where the music-loving Marianne plays the piano. “In order to make sure that I knew what I was doing, I bought myself a keyboard and practised the pieces a lot,” she explains. “It’s really me playing on screen but the sound that you hear isn’t me – it’s very difficult to record the sound with conversation on top of it.

Muted

“So, all the pianos were muted and the music added later. You can imagine learning a piece and then having to play it without actually being able to hear what you play.”

Charity researched the morals of the time. “Somebody gave me a book about codes of conduct. There were all these rules about when, or when not, to approach a man and speak to a man.

“You weren’t allowed to be in a room on your own with a man at all, or walk with a man. When to bow and not to bow. You lose your social standing if you don’t behave properly.

“Women weren’t allowed to make their own living, so they had no option to stay single. They had to make a match, otherwise they didn’t have any money. It’s a huge pressure for Marianne and her sister Elinor, when they lose their father and lose their money, to make a match.”

As well as appearing in the new period drama, Charity lets her hair down early next month in Rapunzel, the first of four stories in BBC1′s Fairy Tales season.

She plays a tennis champion in an update of the classic story, which co-stars Lee Ingleby as a man pretending to be a female player.

Dominic has been equally busy. He plays Earl Grey and gets to kiss Keira Knightley in a new film called The Duchess. He also appears in the new big screen adaptation of stage hit Mamma Mia!

“I got to wear an all-in-one purple spandex jump suit, medallion and big white heels,” he grins. “I got booted out of my drama school musical for having no rhythm so suddenly being in a studio and singing in front of Abba’s Benny and Bjorn was terrifying.”

For all the latest news from the world of television, check out Ian Wylie’s blog, The Life of Wylie .