From a perfect specimen of male loveliness to a bespectacled stick insect: Mr Darcy, you've got too scrawny to be scrumptious

  • Colin Firth, 55, set hearts racing in a wet shirt as Jane Austen's Mr Darcy 
  • Jenni Murray is worried after the actor looked alarmingly skinny recently
  • She urges him to put on a few pounds and go back to being gorgeous

By Jenni Murray for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:37 EST, 23 September 2015 | Updated: 23:38 EST, 23 September 2015

There can't be a woman of my generation in the country who doesn't remember that magical moment in 1995 when Colin Firth, as Mr Darcy, emerged from the lake and the wet shirt act was elevated to an art form.

The scene, in the BBC's version of Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice, was recently voted the most beloved moment in TV drama of all time. Quite right, too.

For Firth was a vision of broad shoulderedness, with a well developed chest and per- fect pecs to match. In short, a hunk. A perfect specimen of male loveliness.

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Jenni Murray feels Colin has gone from a 'perfect specimen of male loveliness' to a 'bespectacled stick insect'

Jenni Murray feels Colin has gone from a 'perfect specimen of male loveliness' to a 'bespectacled stick insect'

Firth went on to bring us further delight, as a character called Mark Darcy, this time in the screen adaptation of Helen Fielding's comic creation Bridget Jones. 

Set against the arrogant, untrustworthy womaniser, Daniel Cleaver (convincingly played by Hugh Grant), who was his rival for Bridget's affections, Colin Firth was the one for whom all womankind was rooting.

He was beautifully built, classically tall, dark and handsome, kind, gentle and a lawyer with a good career to boot. His superior charm and physical allure were simply unbeatable. Not so, I am saddened to report, this week when Firth unveiled an alarmingly skinny look at London Fashion Week.

Insiders say that Firth, who has always been well-dressed and impeccably groomed, has of late become obsessed with his weight and style. 

He apparently became interested in fashion - unheard of for a proper Englishman - when he worked with American fashion designer and film director, Tom Ford, for the 2009 movie A Single Man, in which Firth played a grieving university professor whose gay partner had died. 

Ford is always beautifully dressed. As you'd expect. And Firth evidently loved his celluloid transformation. He said: 'His suits are beautiful. That's when I first discovered how transformative a suit can feel.'

Jenni can't imagine any woman of her age doesn't remember that magical moment in 1995 when Colin Firth, as Mr Darcy, emerged from the lake in a wet shirt, stealing Elizabeth Bennett's heart, and the whole nation's

Jenni can't imagine any woman of her age doesn't remember that magical moment in 1995 when Colin Firth, as Mr Darcy, emerged from the lake in a wet shirt, stealing Elizabeth Bennett's heart, and the whole nation's

Of course, it's a given that actors will allow their weight to fluctuate according to the role they've been hired to play. His wife has tweeted that 'Re Colin's weight speculations, he has been asked to train for Matthew Vaughn movie,' referring to Firth's sequel in the fanchise The Secret Service.

Colin's weight loss began apparently, and entirely justifiably, when he was to appear in the film The Railway Man. It would, after all, be ridiculous to play a prisoner of war who worked on the 'Railway of Death' between Thailand and Burma, or for that matter, a spy with an amazing talent for martial arts, if the actor bore more than a passing resemblance to Billy Bunter.

But, Colin, it's one thing to dress like a style icon for a film - quite another to want to emulate the emaciated elegant look when you return to domestic reality. Anyway, what woman wants her husband to outdo them in the style stakes?

SHIRT SHRIFT

Colin Firth turned down the Mr Darcy role repeatedly before being persuaded to take it

I could, of course, be wrong in relation to Mrs Firth, or Livia Giuggioli as she's known in her native Italy. She's a fan of eco-fashion, boasts her own couture collection and counts Stella McCartney among her friends. 

She has said she finds 'the English reserve constipated' and admitted her parents couldn't see what she saw in Colin Firth. Come again?

Who knows then, but she may, just may, have had some influence over Colin's employment of a rather eccentric style guru. Daniele Boido, whom Firth is said to visit, recommends regular enemas, no animal protein, sugar or bread, just raw fruit, veg and aloe vera juice. No wonder Colin's a shadow of his former self.

I can understand why a man heading for late middle age - he's 55 - might begin to think seriously about how unattractive a burgeoning paunch and treble chin might be. 

 Colin, you were never a fatty in danger of the downsides of obesity, although you may have been a little soft around the edges. You were gorgeous

I've been there myself and know how cruel people can be to the over-endowed in the weight department and how horrible an impact it can have on your health and mobility. I don't blame him for wanting to drop a few pounds.

But Colin, you were never a fatty in danger of the downsides of obesity, although you may have been a little soft around the edges. You were gorgeous. 

Turning into a beanpole whose narrow trousers look too large for you, is not a good look. And any severe weightloss does tend to leave a once wrinkle-free skin looking like a carelessly folded cardigan. Just think of Lord Lawson.

Firth is, though, far from alone among men who find themselves in the public eye. A-lister Matthew McConaughey has all but disappeared since he starred as an Aids sufferer in the film Dallas Buyers Club.

He lost three stone for the part and says his eyesight worryingly diminished. Two years on, he still hasn't regained his attractive bulk.

Colin may be slimming down to impress his fashionista wife, Livia Firth, who he is pictured with here at the Shakespeare in Love premiere in 1991, but now he looks like a 'beanpole' says concerned Jenni Murray

Colin may be slimming down to impress his fashionista wife, Livia Firth, who he is pictured with here at the Shakespeare in Love premiere in 1991, but now he looks like a 'beanpole' says concerned Jenni Murray

Meanwhile Dan Stevens who first appeared as handsome, well-upholstered Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey, has slimmed down since he went to Hollywood, and was described in one magazine as 'going from chubby cheeked aristo to lean, mean American psycho'.

Similarly, Aidan Turner who so delighted us ladies as the bare-chested, scything Poldark, looks as if he has slimmed down a little too much for the next series. It would be a great pity if young men were forced to become as obsessed with weightloss as young women have.

Men, take note. My current pin-ups are Daniel Craig emerging from the sea as James Bond and Ben Batt ending his naked swim as Ted Burgess in last week's episode of The Go-Between. Well covered (with flesh, but little else) handsome and masculine.

So please, for the sake of womankind, Colin, ditch the bespectacled stick insect look, put on a few pounds and be our Mr Darcy again.

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