Huge news to share: Channel 4 has officially confirmed Series Two of A Woman of Substance is happening, with Brenda Blethyn and Jessica Reynolds both returning as Emma Harte.
Series one was Channel 4 streaming’s most-watched drama in five years (since It’s a Sin), pulling an average of three million viewers an episode so it’s no surprise they’re going again. This time we follow Emma out of WWI and into the 1920s as she takes on the Fairley family once and for all, while in the ’70s she’s fighting to win back her life’s work from Jim Fairley.
Katherine Jakeways and Roanne Bardsley are back writing, filming starts in Yorkshire later this year, and Channel 4 / The Forge Entertainment are producing once more.
H.E. Vicki Downey, Trustee of The Barbara Taylor Bradford Trust, says: “Emma Harte is a woman who refuses to be defeated by poverty, by betrayal and by the limitations others place upon her. That story has resonated with readers for nearly five decades, and it is clear from the response to the new TV adaptation that audiences feel exactly the same connection. There is so much more of Emma’s world to explore, and we are thrilled that Channel 4 is bringing the next part of Emma’s extraordinary life to the screen.”
It’s been a genuine privilege working alongside The Barbara Taylor Bradford Trust on this, watching Barbara’s books find a whole new generation of fans nearly five decades after Emma Harte first hit the page is something special. More to come as filming gets underway.
