'Little Women' Miniseries in the Works at PBS, BBC
"Little Women" is coming to the little screen.
PBS Masterpiece and BBC are teaming up to make a three-episode miniseries based on Louisa May Alcott's beloved novel. "Call the Midwife" writer Heidi Thomas will pen the script and Vanessa Caswill ("Thirteen") will direct.
"Little Women" follows the trials and tribulations of the four March sisters — Jo, Beth, Meg, and Amy — during the Civil War. As they grow up, they deal with love and loss, all while relying on their bonds of sisterhood.
The novel has been adapted for the screen many times, including a 1949 movie starring Elizabeth Taylor, a 1979 miniseries starring Meredith Baxter, and a 1994 film starring Winona Ryder and Claire Danes. A few years ago, the CW considered adapting it into a gritty, sci-fi tale, but the project did not move forward.
"'Little Women' is one of the most loved novels in the English language, and with good reason. Its humanity, humor and tenderness never date, and as a study of love, grief and growing up it has no equal," writer Thomas said in a statement. "There could be no better time to revisit the story of a family striving for happiness in an uncertain world, and I am thrilled to be bringing the March girls to a new generation of viewers."