It is a truth universally acknowledged that I'm suddenly addicted to period dramas
And so you find yourself rewatching the film of Sense and Sensibility, the one with Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson, and then one thing leads to another and you've watched every available Austen, and so you find yourself subscribing to BritBox, and soon life has no meaning unless you are hunched in front of the set watching Dame Judy Dench in a bonnet and Julia Sawalha in a hooped skirt.
I've heard heroin addicts talk about how it all started. An innocent tug on an acquaintance's 'marijuana cigarette' and, three weeks later, they are sprawled in a Kings Cross gutter with no money and a needle in their arm. Friends, that is my story. It all begins with a moment of appreciation for Hugh Grant's tousled hair and ends with a wayward addict adrift in a sea of Trollope.
In the last fortnight, I've watched at least 11 period dramas – all of Austen, then two TV versions of Tom Jones (the older version better than the later), Trollope's The Way We Live Now (excellent, by the way), Cranford, Return to Cranford, and Yet More Cranford. This last one doesn't exist yet, but surely I can dream?
Strangely, I used to act superior about 'bonnet dramas'. I spent most of the 1990s falling asleep in front of them. If a drama featured headwear affixed under the chin with a ribbon, I found my eyes fluttering closed.
Now, I'm watching so many period dramas that they blur in my memory. No, matter. In a way, they are all the same. They all star Imelda Staunton, Brenda Blethyn, Tom Hollander and Michael Gambon. If one of the characters isn't in it for a scene or two, one assumes the actor is up the road filming The Barchester Chronicles.
Andrew Davies is always the writer, which means he's skilled at including all the classic tropes. They all have a cad, a spirited heroine, an interfering aunt, and a scene in which someone is pushed into a pond, puddle, river, moat or lake. There's a puppet show or magic performance, featuring either Tim Curry or Alexei Sayle. The sprawling country house, I'm pretty sure, is always the same. Presumably, the BBC bought it in 1952 and films everything there. If it's Anna Karenina, they'll ship in some scythes and a steaming samovar.
Of course, much like the heroin addict, the period drama compulsion soon dominates your life. When every evening is spent in Georgian England, it's hard for every breakfast not to follow.
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Chadha says attitudes towards women's soccer have changed since the first movie, but admits more progress is needed. "A lot has changed since the original movie, but I think that people still don't think that women should play football," she says. "There are people who still don't take it seriously, although the Lionesses are riding high. "I've left it a while, but I thought: look at the Euros, look at the Lionesses." Chadha hopes the sequel will spread a positive message and "challenge" stereotypes. "What I did was say you can do what you want, and you can have it all, and I think that's a really great message to put out again," she says. "I think there's still stuff to say, and stuff to challenge." Bend It Like Beckham proved to be a big moment in Keira Knightley's career, but the actress previously revealed that her friends scoffed at the idea of making the movie. During an appearance on The Tonight Show, she told host Jimmy Fallon: "I literally remember telling people I was doing it and it's called Bend It Like Beckham, and them going, 'Oh that's really embarrassing'. And they were all like, 'Don't worry. Nobody will see it. It's fine.'" Knightley noted that "women's soccer was not as big" in 2002 as it is now, and so her friends assumed that the movie would flop at the box office. "Women's soccer was not as big back then, and so the idea of the whole thing was sort of ridiculous," she says. Despite this, the film proved its doubters wrong, earning more than $70 million at the box office and even inspiring a musical adaptation. And Knightley - who also starred in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise - is still constantly reminded of her role in the movie by fans. "It's amazing because it's still the film even today, you know, if someone comes up to talk to me about my work, it's that one," she says. "It's so loved. It's amazing." 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