Channel 4 announces brand new drama adaptation of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman of Substance
12 February 2025: Channel 4 announces a brand new adaptation of A Woman of Substance, produced by The Forge Entertainment (National Treasure, Help, Generation Z), a Banijay UK company and written by Katherine Jakeways (The Buccaneers) and co-written by Roanne Bardsley (The Buccaneers, Screw).
Both Emmy-nominated and Channel 4’s biggest ever drama when it was made 40 years ago, this new eight-part revenge romp is a re-imagining of the multi-million bestselling novel and global phenomenon written by Barbara Taylor Bradford, which feels just as searingly relevant today as it did back then.
We meet the magnetic Emma Harte in 1911, as an impoverished, ambitious maid in Yorkshire, England, and follow her irresistible and dizzying climb to become the world’s richest woman, gazing down on her sprawling empire from a luxury New York penthouse.
The background to Emma Harte’s rags-to-riches rise is the tale of women through the 20th century, as Emma defies the expectations of her society, fearlessly challenging the roles she’s given, smashing glass ceilings, and never, ever deviating from her masterplan: Get to the top. Whatever it takes.
A housemaid-turned-mogul, daughter, mother, lover, fighter and a 20th century feminist icon who refused to know her ‘place’, Emma Harte returns to Channel 4 once again to delight and scandalise audiences.
Katherine Jakeways, showrunner and writer, says: “I was a child in the ’80s, when A Woman of Substance was on every bookstand, every glass-topped coffee table and hidden, well-thumbed, under every pillow. The original Channel 4 adaptation was packed full of rolling Yorkshire hills, hairspray, shoulder pads and heaving bosoms and I desperately wanted in. So, it’s an incredible thrill for me to be bringing this blockbusting, epic saga of ambition, lust and revenge back to exactly where it belongs… Channel 4. And, we hope, doing justice to those twin feminist icons: the unstoppable Emma Harte and the original, inspirational Woman of Substance herself… Barbara Taylor Bradford.”
Ollie Madden, Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama, adds: “Emma Harte’s superpower is weaponizing the degree to which men underestimate her. Watching her do that through the decades, experiencing her epic journey from housemaid to mogul, promises to be as thrillingly entertaining as it is fiercely relevant. We couldn’t be more excited to bring Barbara Taylor Bradford’s classic creation to life again via the brilliance of Katherine Jakeways and Roanne Bardsley’s sparkling scripts, alongside our trusted partners at The Forge.”
Beth Willis, Executive Producer at The Forge, says: “Katherine’s delicious, funny and observant writing is a joy to read – and in her and Roanne Bardsley’s brilliant hands Emma Harte is as fabulous as ever. A Woman of Substance is an all-you-can-eat-banquet of drama for contemporary audiences who – like Emma Harte – want it all.’”
An 8×60” drama series by The Forge Entertainment, Beth Willis, Joe Innes and Katherine Jakeways are the executive producers. Roanne Bardsley is Co-Executive Producer. Charlie Palmer (Extraordinary, Agatha Raisin) is producer and John Hardwick (The Buccaneers, One Day, The A Word) will direct.
A Woman of Substance has been commissioned for Channel 4 by Ollie Madden, Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama and Rebecca Holdsworth, Commissioning Editor Drama. A Woman of Substance will be distributed internationally by Banijay Rights.
International author Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE died in November 2024, aged 91. A Woman of Substance is one of the most famous of novels in Barbara Taylor Bradford’s vast literary estate. This went from bestseller to super seller within its first year and stayed on The New York Times’ list for 43 weeks. Since it was published in 1979 by Granada Publishing, now HarperCollins in the UK, and Doubleday in USA, it has gone on to be an international bestselling sensation, selling over 82 million copies, in 90 countries and translated into over 40 languages. A further seven books were written as a continuation of the Emma Harte saga.
The Barbara Taylor Bradford Trust now manages the literary and media rights for the international bestselling author’s 40 novels that she wrote. The rights deal between The Forge and The Barbara Taylor Bradford Estate was handled by the Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency.
Vicki Downey, Trustee of The Barbara Taylor Bradford Trust, says: “It was always Barbara’s dream to see A Woman of Substance reimagined, as this book – along with her 39 others – features compelling plot lines, which are perfect for television drama. In many ways, A Woman of Substance was one of the first female empowerment novels, portraying a woman driven not by love or the pursuit of it, but by her determination to gain power, protect and provide for others, and, above all, to succeed. It is a classic of its genre.”
Casting and transmission details will be announced in due course.
