Exclusive first-look image shows Wilson playing her grandmother

Iain Glen and Keeley Hawes have signed on for “Mrs Wilson,” the upcoming period drama that Ruth Wilson will executive produce and star in, playing her own grandmother.

U.K. pubcaster the BBC ordered the series for its flagship BBC One channel and Masterpiece is a co-producer and will launch it in the U.S. It is being produced by Snowed-In Productions, the sister company to J.K. Rowling’s Brontë Film and Television and which focuses on projects not based on the author’s work.

The three-parter is set in London between the 1940s and 1960s. It will tell the true story of Alison Wilson, Ruth’s grandmother, who thinks she is happily married. When her husband, Alec, dies, another woman turns up on her doorstep claiming to be the real Mrs Wilson, opening up a world of intrigue and secrets. The series is inspired by the memoir of Wilson’s grandmother and her family’s complicated history.

Related Stories

Illustration of a digital brain surrounded by film festival awards laurels VIP+

What Film Fund From AI Startup Runway Means for Content’s Future

Ghosts Australia

Paramount to Launch Australian Adaptation of BBC Sitcom ‘Ghosts’

“Game of Thrones” star Glen will play Alec, the husband who was also a spy, English teacher, and author of several espionage novels in the 1930s. Wilson, the star, alongside Dominic West, of Showtime’s “The Affair,” will take the lead role. “I am so excited to bring to the small screen the extraordinary lives of my grandparents. Theirs is a profoundly moving story,” she said.

Popular on Variety

Hawes (“The Durrells”) will play Dorothy, one of the other women in Alex’s life. She joins an all-British cast that also includes Anupam Kher (“Silver Linings Playbook”) and Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve”).

All3Media International is distributing the series, and got the pre-sales effort underway at the recent MipTV. Anna Symon wrote the drama, which will be directed by Richard Laxton. Shooting started this week and will take place in London and Northern Ireland.

“Anna Symon’s scripts, based on the remarkable story of Ruth Wilson’s grandparents, are full of twists and turns,” said Lucy Richer, executive producer for the BBC. “It is a story of breath-taking secrets and love against the odds, and I can’t wait to see it brought to life for BBC One by such a fascinating cast, led by Ruth.”

Executive producer for Masterpiece, Rebecca Eaton, added: “What a fabulous group of actors to bring Ruth Wilson’s grandmother’s story to life.”

Jackie Larkin (“The Strike”) will produce “Mrs Wilson,” and the exec producers alongside Ruth Wilson, include Ruth Kenley-Letts (“The Casual Vacancy”), and Neil Blair (“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them”).

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXKEjq2taKaVrMBwtcCipWafnJq7brfEnqOesV2drrix0maprqyYYsSquNKopWaakph6rq3SrZyrqJmasKZ5zKuqZq%2BZocCwuoxqaWlqZ2qCdYOYaA%3D%3D