Brenda Blethyn & Jessica Reynolds Leading Channel 4’s ‘A Woman Of Substance’ Remake

Channel 4 has solid the leads for its upcoming remake of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman Of Substance.

Double Oscar-nominee Brenda Blethyn will play the older Emma Harte and Jessica Reynolds is the more youthful model of the enduring personality.

The remake of the rags-to-riches story comes 40 years after the primary Channel 4 model of A Woman of Substance, which starred Jenny Seagrove and stays its maximum watched drama of all time. Taylor Bradford died remaining November elderly 91.

Joining the forged are Emmett J Scanlan (Kin, Mobland) as Adam Fairley, Lydia Leonard (The Mirror and The Light, Gentleman Jack) as Olivia Wainwright, Leanne Best (This City Is Ours, Line of Duty) as Adele Fairley, Ewan Horrocks (The Last Kingdom, Domina) as Edwin Fairley, Harry Cadby (In Flight, Everything Now) as Gerald Fairley, Will Mellor (Mr Bates vs the Post Office, Line of Duty) as Jack Harte, BAFTA-winning Lenny Rush (Am I Being Unreasonable, Doctor Who) as Frank Harte, Niall Wright (Hope Street, Slow Horses) as Mac, Robert Wilfort (Gavin and Stacey, Wolf Hall) as Murgatroyd, Toby Regbo (Medici, A Discovery of Witches) as Jim Fairley, Hiftu Quasem (The Witcher, Ten Percent) as Priya Chandra, Sophie Bould (Call The Midwife, Sex Education) as Elizabeth Harte and Georgina Sadler (Silo, Boarders) as Polly.

The Buccaneers scribes Katherine Jakeways and Roanne Bardsley are penning A Woman of Substance, which follows the story of an impoverished, formidable maid in Yorkshire who takes a dizzying climb to develop into the arena’s richest lady, observing down on her sprawling empire from a luxurious New York penthouse. Banijay-backed The Forge is generating the brand new model and ex-Channel 4 drama boss Beth Willis is EP.

Blethyn mentioned: “I’m overjoyed to be taking on this iconic role, in the footsteps of the great Deborah Kerr. As a fan of Barbara Taylor-Bradford, it is an unmissable opportunity to play the fierce Emma Harte.”

Blethyn is a double Oscar-nominated famous person widely known to UK audiences for her roles in displays like Vera. Reynolds is a relative newcomer who inspired as love passion Georgia in hit indie movie Kneecap and starred in Outlander Season 6.

Channel 4 has long gone giant on drama castings during the last few days. Falling, every other of its new displays beneath movie and TV drama boss Ollie Madden, landed Paapa Essiedu and Keeley Hawes as leads remaining week. That display could also be produced via The Forge and is being penned via Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne.

Willis, Joe Innes, George Faber and Jakeways are the chief manufacturers of A Woman of Substance along Taylor Bradford. Bardsley is co-executive manufacturer. Charlie Palmer (Extraordinary, Agatha Raisin) is manufacturer and John Hardwick (The Buccaneers, One Day, The A Word) will direct block one. A Woman of Substance has been commissioned for Channel 4 via Madden, Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama and Rebecca Holdsworth, Commissioning Editor, Drama. A Woman of Substance will likely be allotted across the world via Banijay Rights.