Broadcasters have turned to Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen for their inspiration this autumn as television executives rely on 19th-century writers to woo audiences in the era of the iPod.

BBC One will show a fresh adaption of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, starring Gemma Arterton in the title role and the Gavin and Stacey co-writer Ruth Jones as Tess's mother.

David Nicholls, the screenwriter, promises a “different kind of adaptation to the ones we are used to - big, passionate, violent, romantic, sexual” - of the story that has been repeatedly dramatised, most notably by Roman Polanski in a film starring Nastassja Kinski.

Arterton is also appearing in ITV1's Lost in Austen, an attempt to bring the Life on Mars theme to the era of bonnets and barouches.

A modern woman swaps with Elizabeth Bennet (played by Arterton) from Pride and Prejudice and has to adapt to the relative simplicity of life in Georgian England. ITV concedes that there has been plenty of Austen on our screens in recent years, but Kate McKerrell, the show's producer, justifies the latest adaption by arguing that it is “trying to think of a way of retelling the story on modern television”.

A more conventional approach, without the time travel, will appear when Charles Dickens's Little Dorrit plays out over 15 episodes on BBC One - in a show marked out by Radio Times as one of ten to watch as the nights draw in.

The adaptation by Andrew Davies, who helped to write the Bridget Jones films, aims to build on the success of Bleak House and has a cast that includes Tom Courtenay and Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the multi-award-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy.

John Simm, best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, stars in The Devil's Whore on Channel 4, covering the time of the English Civil War. Written by Peter Flannery, the man behind Our Friends in the North, it also features Peter Capaldi - who plays an Alastair Campbell figure in the political drama In The Thick of It - as Charles I.

Those looking for something more futuristic will have to opt for the magical, in the form of Merlin, a swords-and-sorcery adventure aimed at filling the Doctor Who slot on Saturday night. The alternative is a remake of the cult sci-fi classic Survivors, devised by Terry Nation, the inventor of the Daleks, in a programme starring, among others, Freema Agyeman, who last played the Time Lord's assistant Martha Jones.

On this autumn:

Lost in Austen (ITV1)

Modern girl swaps with Elizabeth Bennet in time-travel take on Pride and Prejudice. Stars Alex Kingston, Jemima Rooper, Gemma Arterton

Tess of the d'Urbervilles (BBC One)

Four-part adaptation of the Hardy novel. Stars Gemma Arterton, Anna Massey, Ruth Jones

Merlin (BBC One)

Special-effects adventures of the young Merlin, starring Richard Wilson, Michelle Ryan and Colin Morgan as Merlin

The Devil's Whore (Channel 4)

Drama set in the 17th century, when England is riven by conflict between King and Parliament. Stars Dominic West, John Simm and Peter Capaldi as Charles I

Little Dorrit (BBC One)

Dickens adapation, with screenplay by Andrew Davies, who has worked on Sense and Sensibility and two versions of Middlemarch

Wallander (BBC One)

Kenneth Branagh stars as a Swedish detective in a film-length adapation of Henning Mankell's books

Oceans (BBC Two)

Documentary on diving by Philippe Cousteau

Survivors (BBC One)

A deadly virus strikes almost all the world's population. Stars Max Beesley, Freema Agyeman, Julie Graham

Stephen Fry in America (BBC One)

The actor and presenter travels the US in a black cab

James May's Big Ideas (BBC Two)

The Top Gear man on a scientific world trip seeking wish fulfilment

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