HEREFORDIANS have to be patient when anticipated box office hits are released - but not this week.

Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightly, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn and Dame Judy Dench, is to receive a special screening at the city's Odeon Cinema on Monday night, in aid of Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust.

The gala performance, sponsored by Herefordshire-based Trevor Hewett Architects, will be an opportunity to see the new film before its general release - with the British premiere happening only a few days ago.

It is the first film version of Jane Austen's popular novel for 65 years - although the rather elusive Mr Darcy was catapulted into the national psyche by Colin Firth in the 1995 BBC's television version.

Lizzie Bennet is one of the most memorable heroines in English literature and her portrayal by current belle of the ball Keira Knightly holds great promise.

Although dramatised for television several times (in 1938, 1952, 1967, 1980 and 1995), Pride and Prejudice has been a feature film only once before, in 1940, directed by Robert Z Leonard and starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson.

It makes its return to the big screen for Working Title Films, with Matthew Macfayden as Darcy - a man his co-star (Knightly) has described as "sexy in the mode of Richard Burton, with a bit of Alan Rickman".

Communication between the sexes is as relevant as a theme now as it was when it was when Pride and Prejudice was penned in 1813.

The new film, directed by Joe Wright, promises to portray a little more of the gritty-life of Georgian England, while being faithful to the setting and period of the novel.

Shot entirely on location in the UK, the production employed members of the Napoleonic Re-enactment Society for the scenes of the militia arriving and leaving the village.

"When the men in the cast stood around in their normal clothes, we Bennet girls could chat away to them," Knightley said.

"As soon as they wore their costumes, the sisters, myself included, were suddenly faced with these sexy creatures and we turned into giggling idiots. They were so well-costumed!"

Tickets for the champagne reception and film can be purchased from Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust on 01432 271990 or the Cathedral Shop.