By Casey Cooper-Fiske
Copyright standard
Actresses Brenda Blethyn and Jessica Reynolds have been seen as Emma Harte for the first time for the Channel 4 adaption of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman Of Substance book.
Reynolds, 27, can be seen wearing a red outfit overlooking a series of hills as the character’s younger self, while Vera star Blethyn, 79, is pictured standing in a hallway, wearing a white coat and orange sunglasses, while holding a red bag.
The show will follow Emma Harte, an impoverished ambitious maid in Yorkshire in 1911, who goes on a journey to become the world’s richest woman.
Channel 4 describes the story as a “rags-to-riches tale of women through the 20th century”, as Emma “defies the expectations of her society, fearlessly challenging the roles she’s given”.
The new eight-part series of the book comes after it was first adapted for the channel in 1984.
Author Taylor Bradford died at the age of 91 on November 24 last year following a short illness, “and was surrounded by loved ones to the very end”, a spokeswoman said at the time.
Paying tribute at a memorial service held in London in June, writer and barrister Cherie Blair, who is married to former prime minister Sir Tony Blair, described the writer as “an inspiration to me, and to millions”.
Other TV adaptations of her books included ITV’s Act Of Will starring Elizabeth Hurley and Victoria Tennant, and To Be The Best, a sequel to A Woman Of Substance with Lindsay Wagner and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
The author was often labelled “the grand dame of blockbusters”, with her books selling more than 91 million copies and having been published in more than 40 languages and in 90 countries.
Filming for A Woman Of Substance has already began in Yorkshire, with a transmission date set to be announced in due course.
The show will be produced by The Forge Entertainment, written by Katherine Jakeways and co-written by Roanne Bardsley.
