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Henry James’ classic novel “The Portrait of a Lady” is set to be adapted for Masterpiece on PBS and the BBC, starring Bill Nighy, Gemma Arterton and Nell Tiger Free.
“Game of Thrones” star Free will lead the six-episode
limited series as James’ New World ingénue Isabel Archer, who leaves the States for Europe in search of adventure.
“A charming young woman with an innate wildness and a burning desire to be independent, Isabel rejects a series of marriage proposals, but when she inherits an unexpected fortune that promises to grant her freedom, she falls prey to two American ex-pat schemers: the elegant Madame Merle and the charming but calculating Gilbert Osmond,” the synopsis reads.
Arterton (“Secret Service”) will play Merle while Jim Sturgess (“One Day”) plays Osmond. Bill Nighy (“Joy”) joins as Mr. Touchett alongside Miranda Richardson’s (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”) Mrs. Touchett, Archer’s uncle and aunt.
Rounding out the cast are Jack Wolfe (“Shadow and Bone”) as Ralph Touchett, Calypso Cragg (“An American in Austen”) as Pansy Osmond, Maisie Richardson-Sellers (“Nine Perfect Strangers”) as Henrietta Stackpole, Hugh Skinner (“Two Weeks in August”) as Lord Warburton, Hamish Frew (“Dear England”) as Casper Goodwood, Thomas Coombes (“The Agency”) as Mr Bantling, Lydia Leonard (“Down Cemetery Road”) as Countess Gemini and Dean-Charles Chapman (“1917”) as Edward Rosier.
Aisling Walsh (“Miss Austen”) directs from a screenplay by “She Said” scribe Rebecca Lenkiewicz. The series, which is already in production, will shoot across the U.K., Hungary and Croatia.
“The Portrait of a Lady” is produced by Number 9 Films TV and Masterpiece, in association with FOX Entertainment Global.
Exec producers are Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen for Number 9 Films TV in partnership with Beta Film GmbH. Richard Tulk-Hart (High Road Entertainment) is co-exec producer while series producer is Rhonda Smith (“Two Weeks in August”).
“We’re excited to see Nell Tiger Free in the iconic role of Isabel Archer and Jim Sturgess in the equally iconic role of Gilbert Osmond,” Woolley and Karlsen said in a statement. “We find it astonishing that James’ prescient story has not been made for television for nearly 60 years, but like all great things, it will definitely be worth the wait.”
The series is set to debut on Masterpiece on PBS, the PBS app and PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video in the U.S. and Canada. It will roll out on BBC One and iPlayer in the U.K. A release date hasn’t yet been announced.
Fox Entertainment Global is handling worldwide distribution. Tulk-Hart and Fox Entertainment Global’s Liz Tang brokered the deal.
