Playground Announces ‘Little Women’ Cast for BBC and Masterpiece on PBS

Dame Angela Lansbury and Michael Gambon star with BAFTA Award-winner Emily Watson as beloved Marmee as more Little Women cast announcements come in.

Courtesy of Masterpiece on PBS and the BBC, the upcoming Little Women cast already feels extraordinarily Emmy®-friendly. Dame Angela Lansbury and Michael Gambon join Emily Watson in the recent announcements. Here is a full press release from Masterpiece on PBS.

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NEW YORK July 6, 2017: Golden Globe® and BAFTA Award-winning drama producer Playground has announced the cast for the upcoming adaptation of Little Women for BBC One and MASTERPIECE on PBS. Based on the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott, this three-part adaptation from the award-winning creator of Call the Midwife Heidi Thomas (Cranford, Upstairs Downstairs) will be directed by Vanessa Caswill (Thirteen, My Mad Fat Diary) and starts principal photography this month in Ireland.

BAFTA Award-winner Emily Watson (The Theory of Everything, Genius) is set to play Marmee, the iconic matriarch of the March family. The March sisters will be played by an ensemble of four exciting young actresses – newcomer Maya Hawke takes the role of willful and adventurous Jo, Willa Fitzgerald (Scream: The TV Series, Misfortune) will play the eldest daughter Meg, Annes Elwy (Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams) will play Beth, and Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies, Halt and Catch Fire) takes the role of the youngest sister Amy.

Academy Award-winner Dame Angela Lansbury (Murder, She Wrote, The Manchurian Candidate) will play the girls’ wealthy relative – the cantankerous Aunt March. BAFTA Award-winner Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, Churchill’s Secret) takes the role of their benevolent neighbor Mr. Laurence, and Jonah Hauer-King (Howards End, The Last Photograph) will play his grandson Laurie Laurence, the charming boy next door.

Loved by generations worldwide, Little Women is a truly universal coming of age story, as relevant and engaging today as it was when originally published in 1868. Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, the story follows the four sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March on their journey from childhood to adulthood. With the help of their mother Marmee, while their father is away at war, the girls navigate what it means to be a young woman: from gender roles to sibling rivalry, first love, loss and marriage.

Little Women has been commissioned by Piers Wenger and Charlotte Moore at the
BBC, and will be produced by Playground (Wolf Hall, Howards End) for BBC One. The series is a co-production with MASTERPIECE on PBS. The producer is Susie Liggat. Executive producers are Colin Callender and Sophie Gardiner for Playground, Heidi Thomas, Lucy Richer for the BBC and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE.