Wet Shirt Mr Darcy Immortalized

This is probably the most obscure title I have to type. And I haven’t even gotten to the pictures.

Any fan of the Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice would probably have a working knowledge of the wet shirt scene, a.k.a. sexy Mr Darcy scene, a.k.a. sexy lake scene. Although in the book in its consistent theme of strict prudence when it came to the man who owned half of Derbyshire, this scene never happened, the BBC mini series adaptation thought it fit to install a few minutes wherein the dapper Colin Firth falls off his horse into his own lake, just when Elizabeth Bennet was taking a walk.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any woman’s blood would rush up her cheeks at the sight of such a man soaking wet.

Nearly a decade, several other adaptations and a few blasphemous novel “sequels” later, the good folks in the UK thought to go back to this memorable moment and essentially, set it in stone. A 12 foot tall fibre-glass sculpture of Mr Darcy in this elegant pose now stands emerging from the lake in London’s Hyde Park, to the delight of the patrons in their rental row boats and the swans.

As the Daily Mail reports, “the installation was commissioned to celebrate the launch of UKTV’s new TV channel Drama and Mr Darcy was chosen because Colin’ Firth’s lake exit from the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice was named the most memorable British TV drama moment of all time.”

From both pictures, flesh or stone, you really cannot argue with that.

Source: Daily Mail care of @Wannaeatrice.