It must be my 20th-century middle-class roots showing, but somehow it never occurred to me that the Bennet ladies might be dressing and having their hair done for dinner rather than for the day! When I read that Bingley arrived "early", I read it as "early in the morning". (Not to mention that Alison Steadman in curlers reminds me so much of a 1950s housewife starting her day!)