Show of the Week: A Woman of Substance

This rags-to-riches tale stars Brenda Blethyn (Pride and Prejudice) and Jessica Reynolds (The Wolf) as the iconic character Emma Harte, who rises from living in poverty in Yorkshire to become the world’s richest woman.

It is based on the first half of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s seminal novel A Woman of Substance and comes 40 years after Channel 4 first adapted the whole book, with that adaptation created as a mini-series that went on to become the UK broadcaster’s most popular ever drama.

This re-imagined version is from Banijay-owned The Forge and tracks Harte’s character as she goes on a dizzying journey, smashing glass ceilings and societal norms to rise to the top regardless of the barriers in her way. 

Beth Willis, executive producer at The Forge, says the 8 x 60-minute show has been developed as a returning series, with writer Katherine Jakeways (The Buccaneers ) and Roanne Bardsley (Screw) creating a bigger canvas than its predecessor.  

“We’re not telling the whole novel in one go - there is much more to come!,” Willis says. “We’ve allowed moments which are small in the novel to grow and the characters have a bit more time to be in each moment. We didn’t want to race through the book.”

Willis adds that Jakeways has brought “her characteristic wit, energy and sense of fun” to the scripts, while sensitive handling of the storyline “pinpoints the way human beings behave - even in the midst of high melodrama, in her hands, it’s impossible not to empathise with their behaviour.”

The show has particular relevance to Blethyn, who was coming off the end of Vera, and the chance to have fun and “go full 1970’s glam” really appealed.

“Brenda has spoken about how her parents worked in service in a big house so the story really spoke to her,” Willis continues. “She is delicious to watch as Emma Harte. For Young Emma (Bardlsey), we went on a mammoth trawl of young actresses but the minute we saw Jessica we knew she was Emma. She brought such raw emotion and truth to the role. She is wonderful.”

Much of the show was shot at Broughton Hall in Yorkshire, with the surrounding moors and scenery adding considerable atmosphere, while Harte’s shop front was filmed at Beamish Museum near Durham. 

The series is now being taken out to buyers and Matt Creasey, exec vice president of sales, coproductions and acquisitions at Banijay Rights, says international audiences will immediately be drawn given Taylor Bradford’s global reach.

“Barbara Taylor Bradford is a phenomenally successful author who is known throughout the world. The stats tell their own story - 90 million book sales across her career, and 30 million copies sold of A Woman of Substance. This can only help with the sale of the upcoming television series,” he adds.

The show’s universal themes - love, betrayal, rivalry, loyalty, class, revenge and legacy - will also engage viewers internationally, and Creasey adds that the period nature is another lure. 

“The story is told over different time periods (1910’s in UK and 1970’s UK and New York) with a backdrop of fabulous stately homes, English countryside, New York skyline and streets, coupled with the amazing fashions of each era. It gives the show a sense of time and an evolution of a dynasty, undercut with a delicious thread of revenge.”