Downton prodco reaches Awkward Age

The production company behind Downton Abbey is developing an adaptation of Francesca Segal novel The Awkward Age with UK pubcaster the BBC.

Gareth Neame

NBCUniversal-owned Carnival Films is working with screenwriter Helen Edmundson (Mary Magdalene, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher) on the project after acquiring the rights to the Chatto & Windus-published novel.

The Awkward Age explores two families attempting to bring themselves together after the widowed mother from one falls in love with an American divorcee from the other.

Gareth Neame, Carnival’s executive chairman, will exec produce the drama alongside Nigel Marchant and Joanna Strevens, with Tara Cook serving as development producer. NBCUniversal International Distribution will handle worldwide distribution of the series.

Neame, who is also exec producing Downton creator Julian Fellowes’ The Gilded Age for NBC, called Segal’s novel an “extraordinary work in its honesty and ability to explore the many aspects of these deeply authentic characters.”