Pride And Prejudice producers forced to tear up their Netflix filming schedule after their Mr Darcy became a father

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a new father may be entitled to a statutory period of paternity leave under the Employment Act 2002.

That may not have the poetry of Jane Austen’s original words, but producers of the latest Pride And Prejudice adaptation have been forced to tear up their filming schedule after their Mr Darcy became a father, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Jack Lowden might be playing the most eligible bachelor in literature but in reality he is married to four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, who has just given birth to their first child. That has kept him away from the set of the new star-studded six-part series currently being shot for Netflix. 

Producers have been forced to employ Lowden lookalikes as they film the final scenes featuring The Crown actress Emma Corrin as the feisty Elizabeth Bennet. The cast also includes Oscar and Emmy winner Olivia Colman.

A source on set said: ‘It is such lovely news that Jack has become a father and nobody would ever have an issue with him taking paternity leave.

‘But the show must go on, and that means the producers have had to keep on filming and that has meant they have had to have some stand-ins for Mr Darcy.

‘So it has been a case of lookalikes for Jack so that there is no disruption.’

Scottish actor Lowden, 35, married Ms Ronan, 31, in a private ceremony in Edinburgh last July. She was last photographed out walking with a prominent baby bump two weeks ago.

Producers have been forced to employ Lowden lookalikes as they film the final scenes featuring The Crown actress Emma Corrin

Jack Lowden might be playing the most eligible bachelor in literature but in reality he is married to four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan

Saoirse Ronan has just given birth to their first child, keeping him away from the set of the new star-studded six-part series

Representatives of the pair were contacted for comment.

Hand-muffs in summer… there’s no Sense And Sensibility in that, Daisy 

 By Jo Macfarlane

It have been a warm day in central London but for the stars of the latest Jane Austen adaptation, it was oh so wintry on set.

Cloaks and muffs were on as Normal People actress Daisy Edgar-Jones and Fiona Shaw, a star of Killing Eve, were pictured for the first time getting into character for Netflix’s version of Sense And Sensibility.

Despite the warm September temperatures last week, the pair filmed scenes in Whitehall, clad in period winter clothing. Ms Edgar-Jones, 27, who plays the reserved Elinor Dashwood – eldest of the Dashwood sisters – wore a long charcoal cloak with a grey embroidered hand-muff and a bonnet tied with a grey ribbon.

She will reprise a role played by Dame Emma Thompson in Ang Lee’s 1995 film version, which earned her an Oscar nomination. 

Elinor is often described as the moral centre of the 1811 novel, whose quiet strength guides the previously wealthy family through personal and financial hardship.

Looking jolly on set near Ms Edgar-Jones was Ms Shaw, 67, who stars as the irrepressible Mrs Jennings. Overbearing and meddlesome, she is nevertheless an intensely kind surrogate mother to the Dashwood sisters. 

Dressed in a green velvet cloak with a mustard hood over a pale green dress, Ms Shaw cracked a joke with co-star Esme Creed-Miles, 25, the daughter of Minority Report actress Samantha Morton, who is playing Marianne Dashwood.

Sense And Sensibility is the second major Austen remake planned by Netflix this year to celebrate 250 years since the author’s birth. The streaming service’s TV adaptation of Pride And Prejudice is being filmed with an all-star cast.

Daisy Edgar-Jones and Fiona Shaw were pictured for the first time getting into character for Netflix’s version of Sense And Sensibility

Ms Edgar-Jones, 27, who plays the reserved Elinor Dashwood – eldest of the Dashwood sisters – wore a long charcoal cloak with a grey embroidered hand-muff

Fiona Shaw, a star of Killing Eve, stars as the irrepressible Mrs Jennings in Sense and Sensibility

Ms Shaw also appears in this drama as Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr Darcy’s haughty aunt. Another high-profile 19th Century adaptation – this time of Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights – is also in production for Warner Bros, starring Australians Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. 

All three of the period dramas are planned to be released next year.