The BBC has commissioned Sally Wainwright to write and direct a new Yorkshire-set drama about the Bronte sisters.
The 120-minute BBC One drama, To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters, will follow Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte’s relationship with each other and their brother Branwell, who in the last three years of his life was plagued by alcoholism and drug addiction.
It was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, controller of BBC One, and Ben Stephenson, outgoing controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, and will be produced by BBC Wales.
The Bronte sisters
Sally Wainwright, the Huddersfield-born writer behind Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax, said: “I am thrilled beyond measure that I’ve been asked by the BBC to bring to life these three fascinating, talented, ingenious Yorkshire women.”
The BBC says the drama will focus on the “three unlikely geniuses under one unlikely West Yorkshire roof”, which it says is one of the “greatest literary mysteries in the world”.
Charlotte Moore, controller of BBC One, added: “The Bronte sisters have always been enigmatic, but Sally Wainwright’s brilliantly authentic new BBC One drama brings the women behind some of our greatest literary masterpieces to life. It’s an extraordinary tale of family tragedy and their passion and determination, against the odds, to have their genius recognized in a male 19th-century world.”
Faith Penhale, Head of BBC Drama Wales, is the executive producer and Karen Lewis the producer.
Filming will take place in and around Yorkshire and the casting will be announced in due course.
