The BBC and Working Title are developing an adaptation of EM Forster’s epic period piece A Passage to India.
Working Title exec Surian Fletcher-Jones has just revealed the news about the new five-part series on an SXSW London panel.
She said the pair are collaborating on the adaptation with Canadian film director and writer Richie Mehta.
The Forster novel just turned 100. Set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s, it revolves around four characters: Dr. Aziz, his British friend Mr. Cyril Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and Miss Adela Quested.
A Passage to India was most recently adapted by David Lean in 1984 for a movie starring Peggy Ashcroft, Judy Davis, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Nigel Havers and Victor Banerjee.
Fletcher-Jones said the adaptation will “reclaim colonial history” and “turn the novel on its head.” She recently visited India, which she said “felt like a homecoming for me.”
“To be able to go back there in a work capacity was just incredible,” she said. “It was just like soul food. You feel like you’ve got the best job in the world really.”
Fletcher-Jones was speaking at SXSW London alongside execs from Heyday, Carnival and Universal Content Productions boss Beatrice Springborn.
