A Woman of Substance is making its Channel 4 debut tonight with the period drama set to air over the next month.
Channel 4 is preparing to debut A Woman of Substance, a television adaptation of a best-selling novel frequently ranked amongst the “best-selling books of all time”.
Featuring Vera star Brenda Blethyn and Outlander’s Jessica Reynolds, the duo portray the older and younger incarnations of the determined Emma Harte in A Woman of Substance.
The eight-episode Channel 4 drama chronicles how Emma, an impoverished Yorkshire housemaid in the 1900s, pursues vengeance following betrayal and subsequently builds a worldwide business empire.
However, her challenges persist into her late seventies as Emma confronts fresh personal troubles and unforeseen adversaries.
With A Woman of Substance broadcasting every Wednesday and Thursday evening over the coming weeks, viewers are eager to discover the origins behind the narrative.
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Is A Woman of Substance based on a true story?
A Woman of Substance draws from author Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE’s debut novel sharing the same title, initially released in 1979.
This marked the opening instalment of a successful seven-book sequence and swiftly achieved international bestseller status, with sales exceeding 30 million copies globally.
Bradford’s creation was subsequently adapted into a mini-series, also by Channel 4, back in 1985.
Therefore, A Woman of Substance isn’t rooted in actual events but, despite Emma Harte being fictitious, Bradford has previously commented on how her literary heroines are similar to herself in possessing a “backbone of steel”.
Much like her fictional creations, she hailed from Yorkshire, departed education at 15 and climbed the ladder from journalist to bestselling novelist.
In 2020, Bradford was considering penning a prequel to the A Woman of Substance series and therefore revisited her earlier works in preparation.
She subsequently told The Guardian: “All I could think at the end was these women are all working hard.”
She continued: “They’re all driven, ambitious and disciplined. I’ve written about myself in every book.”
She also discussed her husband Robert Bradford, to whom she was wed for 55 years, before his passing in 2019 at the age of 92.
Bradford confessed: “All I wanted to do was go and lie in his plot next to him for quite a few weeks,”.
However, she reflected: “But I guess if you’re a practical, down-to-earth Yorkshirewoman … we’re rather stoical, and I’m strong. I’ve always had a backbone of steel.”
She added: “I’ve gone through all sorts of things and come out the other end.”
A Woman of Substance continues every Wednesday and Thursday at 9pm on Channel 4.