The Stage

Corrie’s Redford to star in Sky Arts’ She Stoops to Conquer

Published Wednesday 26 September 2007 at 10:55 by Matthew Hemley

Exclusive: Oliver Goldsmith’s 18th-century classic She Stoops to Conquer is to be adapted into a five-part series for Sky Arts that will be broadcast alongside a documentary about the new production and the original play.

It will star Ian Redford, who played Coronation Street’s Keith Appleyard, as well as Fingersmith’s Polly Hemingway. It also features Susannah Fielding, who recently appeared in the National Theatre’s production of Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo.

The new screen version of the play, which was first performed in 1773, is being made by independent production company Capriol Films and co-produced by Sky Arts. It has been adapted by Capriol head Tony Britten and is being shot in and around Wiveton Hall in Norfolk.

The accompanying documentary, called A Gooseberry Fool, will provide an insight into the making of the production as well as looking at Goldsmith’s life and writing.

Britten said: “Classic plays such as She Stoops to Conquer deservedly live on in the theatre but can find a new life on television, not as old-fashioned stage relays, but as fresh filmic reinterpretations. I am very pleased that Sky Arts shares this view and is going where terrestrial broadcasters unaccountably fear to tread.”

The series will be broadcast early next year. It will also be shown as a one-off, feature-length film.