Camera man

The Sunday Times says that Colin Firth nearly didn't get the role of Mr Darcy in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice - and hair dye came to his rescue.

Alan Yentob, then controller of BBC1, and Andrew Davies, who wrote the screenplay, opposed the casting of Firth — the former because he did not think him handsome enough, the latter because he believed the gingerish hue in the actor’s hair to be unsuitable.

A range of images suddenly sprang to mind...