Hayley Atwell To Star In 'Howards End' Adaptation For Starz, BBC
by Nellie Andreeva
Starz has teamed with BBC to co-produce the limited series Howards End, based on the classic E.M. Forster novel with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea) writing the TV adaptation.
Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter) have been tapped to star in the project, originally greenlighted by BBC One in December 2015. Atwell will play Margaret Schlegel.
Hettie Macdonald (White Girl) will direct the four-part series that will air on BBC One in the UK and Starz in the U.S.
Howards End will film in and around London.
Starz has teamed with BBC to co-produce the limited series Howards End, based on the classic E.M. Forster novel with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea) writing the TV adaptation. Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter), Matthew Macfadyen (Ripper Street) and Tracey Ullman (Tracey Ullman’s Show) have been tapped to star in the project, originally greenlighted by BBC One in December 2015. Hettie Macdonald (White Girl) will direct the four-part series that will air on BBC One in the UK and Starz in the U.S. Howards End will film in and around London.
Howards End explores the changing landscape of social and class divisions in turn-of-the-century England through the prism of three families: the intellectual and idealistic Schlegels, the wealthy Wilcoxes from the world of business, and the working-class Basts. Playground is executive producing in association with City Entertainment and KippSter Entertainment.
Atwell will play Margaret Schlegel, Macfadyen will portray Henry Wilcox, and Ullman will play Aunt Juley Mund.
“Starz continues our commitment to bring quality drama to the screen with Howards End and we’re delighted to once again work in partnership with the BBC and Colin Callender on this literary period piece,” said Carmi Zlotnik, President of Programming for Starz.
Callendar also is producing The Missing and The White Queen franchise for Starz — both back for second installments. He executive produces Howards End with City Entertainment’s Joshua D. Maurer (Papillon) and Alixandre Witlin (The Last Tycoon), and KippSter Entertainment’s David A. Stern (The Last Tycoon) as well as with Playground’s Sophie Gardiner (Eureka Street) and Scott Huff (The Missing) and Lucy Richer for the BBC. Laura Hastings-Smith (Hunger) is producing.
Said Richer, BBC executive producer, “Kenneth Lonergan is one of our truly great contemporary voices, and his adaptation of this adored timeless classic will surprise and delight a whole new audience with its timely and relevant themes.”
HOWARDS END (1992) - Official Theatrical Trailer
One of Merchant Ivory’s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster’s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters’ lives are connected to the ownership of Howards End, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman’s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society’s moribund conformist values. Cohen Film Collection is proud to present a gorgeous new 4K restoration from the original negative, overseen and approved by director James Ivory and cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts.