Emma is an adaptation of an 1815 novel.
Jane Austen 's Emma is an adaptation of the 1815 novel of the same name . It was adapted for the British television network ITV in 1996 , directed by Diarmuid Lawrence and dramatised by Andrew Davies , the same year as Miramax 's film adaptation of Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow . Davies had recently adapted another Austen novel as the successful 1995 television serial Pride and Prejudice for BBC when he proposed to adapt the novel Emma for the network .