A new Villette radio adaptation in BBC Radio 4

Starting next Monday, August 3. Ten episodes (15 minutes each) to be aired in BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour slot (7:45 PM). These are the details:

Villette
Monday 3 to Friday 7 August
Monday 10 to Friday 14 August
7.45-8.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Poor and alone, Lucy Snowe is something of a misfit, deeply private – an outsider. All she has is her imagination and her ever-watchful eye. Although terrified, she is witty, passionate and strong-willed.

With neither friends nor family, Lucy escapes England to make her way as a teacher in the fictional French town of Villette. But her struggle for independence is soon overshadowed by her friendship with a charismatic English doctor and her feelings for an autocratic schoolmaster. Charlotte Bronte's modern heroine must decide if there is any man in her society whom she can trust with love.

Through Lucy, we meet the rather mysterious owner of the school, Madame Beck, who is always lurking in the shadows; the pretty but vain student, Ginevra; the handsome doctor whom everyone, including Lucy, adores; and the enigmatic master at the school, Monsieur Paul.

Based on Bronte's personal experience as a teacher in Brussels, Villette is celebrated for its dramatic plot and its aching depiction of what it is to be an outsider.

Adapted by Rachel Joyce
Directed by Tracey Neale

Lucy Snowe ...... Anna Maxwell Martin (in the picture, source)
Young Lucy /Ginevra / Rosine ...... Lizzy Watts
Polly ...... Nell Venables
Mrs Bretton/Miss Marchmount / Mme Beck ...... Joan Walker
Graham Bretton / Dr John ...... Benjamin Askew
Monsieur Paul / Père Silas ...... Sam Dale

Episode 1 ... Bretton
Lucy Snowe looks back to the happy times spent with her godmother and the arrival of a letter with some surprising news.

Episode 2 ... Turning a New Leaf
Alone and orphaned, Lucy Snowe must make her own way in life.

Episode 3 ... Isidore
A handsome young English doctor pays a visit to the school and begins to confide in Lucy.

Episode 4 ... The Long Vacation
Celebrations are afoot for Madame Beck's birthday, but when the school empties for the summer holidays, Lucy realises the full extent of her loneliness.

Episode 5 ... La Terresse
Alone, weary and desperately low in spirits, Lucy has pitched into an abyss of despair from which, it appears, there is no return. But then suddenly there is hope.

Episode 6 ... A Burial
Lucy wants to stay with her friends and is dreading her return to Madame Beck's cold indifference and Monsieur Paul's fiery scorn.

Episode 7 ... Monsieur Paul
After burying her treasured letters from Dr John and concealing her broken heart, friendship for Lucy comes from an unexpected quarter.

Episode 8 ... Friendship
Monsieur Paul and Lucy's friendship grows as they consider the significance of the ghostly apparition.

Episode 9 ... Cloud
Lucy and Monsieur Paul grow close, but forces are at work to keep them apart.

Episode 10 ... Finis
There are more revelations to unfold after a night-time carnival and a host of secrets, but will Lucy's new love desert her?

Categories: Audio-Radio, Villette