‘Sanditon’ Writer Andrew Davies Explains Why He Added Incest to Jane Austen

Sanditon Episode 4 on Masterpiece on PBS introduces us to one source of Sidney Parker’s (Theo James) ire: Mr. Otis Molyneux (Jyuddah Jaymes). Young and charming, but poor, Otis has been wooing Georgiana Lambe (Crystal Clarke) in secret for months. And now, Sanditon‘s heroine Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) is smack in the middle of it. Her decision to aid the star-crossed lovers stymies her growing bond with Sidney and helps give us all the requisite angst of a traditional Jane Austen slow burn romance.

But that might not be the thing that made your jaw drop on this week’s edition of Sanditon on Masterpiece on PBS. After weeks of insinuation, sly under-the-table touches, and outright flirtation, we finally got confirmation that, yes, Edward Denham (Jack Fox) and sister Esther (Charlotte Spencer) are a thing. Sanditon went full incest!

We’ve seen first cousins fall in love in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park and watched as in-laws Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley married in the final pages of Emma, but something about the Denham sibling’s tryst feels especially scandalous. Even though Esther points out that they are only siblings by marriage (i.e. step-siblings) to Clara (Lily Sacofsky), they are still crossing a line.

Sanditon creator Andrew Davies explained to Decider that he got the idea from the literature of the time period.

“I think [the incest came] partly from reading other kinds of books in the period, you know, more gothic kinds of novels, but also just meditating on the characters and their situation,” Davies said. “Edward and Esther are characters — brother and sister — who have been brought up together. They spent an awful lot of time together. They’re isolated, so they’d obviously have a very, very close relationship, whether one of affection or hatred or whatever. I thought to make it a sort of quasi-incestuous would be a good way to go.”

The truth about Edward and Esther’s relationship ratchets up the tension in their ongoing war with Clara Brereton. Their rival for Lady Denham’s (Anne Reid) fortune discovers them in an embrace and manages to keep it a secret, for now. Still she has fun teasing the lovers with her intimate knowledge of their special relationship.

“Could it be that no man could ever measure up to Edward? Clara asks Esther right in front of Lady Denham. While their aunt has been trying to fix Esther up with a suitor, Clara jokes that she only has eyes for her brother. “I’ve rarely seen two people enjoy such intimacy. If you could, I suspect you would marry each other.”

Later the two women share a moment of honesty in the same woods where Clara gave Edward a shocking handjob in Episode 1. Clara figures out that Esther is truly in love with Edward and cautions her against trusting her louse of a brother. It’s only later in the episode, when Esther proposes they elope to the continent without the money, that she realizes that Clara is right. Edward cares more about securing Lady Denham’s wealth than living a happily ever after with her.

We’ll have to wait and see if this revelation will force Esther to betray Edward in the weeks ahead. But first, we’ve also got to find out what’s going to happen between Mr. Sidney Parker and Charlotte. While the friction between them grows hotter, handsome young architect Stringer (Leo Suter) is growing closer to Charlotte.

Where to stream Sanditon