Splashy New ‘Little Women’ Adaptation Comes to Masterpiece Next Spring
Little Women MASTERPIECE on PBS Shown (Left-Right): Kathryn Newton as Amy, Willa Fitzgerald as Meg, Maya Hawke as Jo, and Annes Elwy as Beth. Little Women has been commissioned by Piers Wenger and Charlotte Moore at the BBC, and is produced by Playground (Wolf Hall, Howards End) for BBC One. The series is a co-production with MASTERPIECE on PBS. The producer is Susie Liggat. Executive producers are Colin Callender and Sophie Gardiner for Playground, Heidi Thomas, Lucy Richer for the BBC and Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece. Lionsgate will manage worldwide distribution excluding US and UK. Photo courtesy of MASTERPIECE on PBS, BBC and Playground.
There’s a lavish new drama of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women and it’s coming to PBS’ Masterpiece this Spring!
The three-part drama will follow the story of four sisters on their journey to adulthood. Set against the backdrop of the U.S. Civil War, the March girls must deal with everything from simple sibling rivalry to first love to gender roles in a rapidly changing society.
Given that little women is a particularly American sort of story – it’s set during and immediately after the U.S. Civil War, after all – it should be pretty interesting to see the British take on the story of Jo March and her siblings. The series is being adapted by Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas, so if the past is anything to go by, we should probably start stocking up on tissues now.
This charming-looking new adaptation will serve as a centerpiece of BBC One’s holiday programming this year, premiering on Boxing Day. Unfortunately, we Americans are going to have to wait a little longer to see this new take on the March sisters for ourselves. But, happily, we won’t have to wait that long.
Little Women will air on PBS in the spring of 2018. It’ll broadcast on Sundays, May 13 and 20 at a special time of 8pm.
Here’s the official word from the Masterpiece Twitter account.
Mark your calendars #LittleWomenPBS fans: The new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic will air Sundays, May 13 & 20, 2018 at the special time of 8/7c on MASTERPIECE on @PBS! Have you already started a countdown? pic.twitter.com/DnEMiNLsQd
— Masterpiece PBS (@masterpiecepbs) December 6, 2017
Four young actresses will portray March girls: Newcomer Maya Hawke will play the willful and adventurous Jo, Willa Fitzgerald (Scream: The TV Series) takes the role of eldest daughter Meg, Annes Elwy (Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams) will play Beth, and Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies, Halt and Catch Fire) is the youngest March sister, Amy.
They’ll be joined by an all-star supporting cast that includes Angela Lansbury, Emily Watson, Michael Gambon and more.
Sadly, there’s no official promo for the drama yet, though that will doubtless drop before its holiday broadcast. (Stay tuned – we’ll share once there is!) But if you pay close attention to the BBC’s holiday trailer – which promotes all its Christmas programming – you can catch a glimpse of some Little Women footage mixed in.
It does look rather perfect, I have to admit. Or at least as perfect as a handful of seconds can.
Are you looking forward to a new take on Little Women? What would you most like to see in a small screen adaptation?
