Mammoth Screen, PBS and ITV team up to adapt Tom Jones into miniseries

PBS-owned drama strand Masterpiece, UK broadcaster ITV and Poldark prodco Mammoth Screen are joining forces on a four-part miniseries adapting Henry Fielding’s classic novel The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling.

Solly McLeod

Solly McLeod (The Rising) stars, alongside Sophie Wilde (You Don’t Know Me). The script has been written by Gwyneth Hughes (Vanity Fair, Miss Austen Regrets), while Georgia Parris (Mari) directs. Benjamin Greenacre, whose credits include the BBC miniseries The Trial of Christine Keeler, will produce.

The exec producers are Hughes, James Gandhi, Damien Timmer and Helen Ziegler for Mammoth; Susanne Simpson and Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece; and Polly Hill for ITV.

The series has yet to be filmed but will be shot on location in Northern Ireland this autumn. The series is a coproduction between ITV Studios-owned Mammoth and Masterpiece, with additional funding from Northern Ireland Screen.

Sophie Wilde

The novel is a picaresque tale of Tom Jones’ quest to find love in British society and was originally published in 1749. The novel has previously been adapted into a film in 1963, starring Albert Finney, and a BBC series in 1997, starring Max Beesley.

Hughes said: “Tom Jones is the mother of all romcoms and isn’t that just what we all need after the last couple of years of misery? Fielding’s 18th century novel is sexy and fun; it’s also a dramatic rollercoaster, addressing so many modern concerns around consent, sexual equality and the pursuit of happiness.”