‘Downton’ and ‘Bridgerton’ stars join new 1920s drama ‘The Colour Room’

Two of our favourite period drama actors are teaming up in a new movie.

Set in 1920s England, The Colour Room is based on the rise to fame of legendary Stoke-on-Trent ceramic artist Clarice Cliff.

Phoebe Dynevor from Bridgerton takes the lead role, alongside Downton Abbey star Matthew Goode .

The cast also includes Luke Norris (Poldark), David Morrissey (The Singapore Grip), Kerry Fox (Shallow Grave), and Darci Shaw (Judy).

Phoebe Dynevor, best known as Daphne Bridgerton in Netflix’s hit drama, commented: “I am so excited to be joining the cast of The Colour Room, especially in the role as one of the nations most celebrated artists, Clarice Cliff.”

The 25-year-old English star added: “It’s truly such an honour to take on such a remarkable character. The script is a beautifully written contemporary take on the 20th century, and I feel proud to be working with such a strong female team, both in front and behind the camera. I look forward to telling Clarice’s story and of course working with Matthew too.”

The official synopsis reads: “The Colour Room follows the journey of a determined, working class woman, Clarice Cliff, as she breaks the glass ceiling and revolutionises the workplace in the 20th century. Clarice Cliff (Dynevor) is a vivacious young factory worker in the industrial British midlands of the 1920s.

“Her creativity and ambition drives her to move factory to factory, despite the financial impact on the household she shares with her widowed mother Ann (Fox) and youngest sister Dot (Shaw).

“Bursting at the seams with ideas for colours and shapes, Clarice takes more and more dangerous risks – but she manages to stay one step ahead of the workhouse and impress the eccentric factory owner Colley Shorter (Goode) on the way with her talent and innovation.

“Apprenticed to renowned Art Designer Fred Ridgeway (Morrissey) and with support from Colley and other women in the factory, Clarice fights her way through to design the unprecedented Art Deco ‘Bizarre’ range. In the middle of the Great Depression, she ensures the factory’s survival and her future as one of the greatest Art Deco designers and a household name.”

Sarah Wright, Director of Sky Cinema and Acquisitions at Sky UK & Ireland, said: “Clarice Cliff is one of the most iconic artists of the 20th Century – a female pioneer who quite literally broke the mould in the English pottery industry in the 1920s.

“I can’t wait to start this all-British production and bring her incredible true story to life, starring the fabulous Phoebe Dynevor with Matthew Goode and David Morrissey.”

Writer Claire Peate, who won the BAFTA Rocliffe in 2016, commented: “The story was inspired by a single image; a young factory worker leaving her grim, industrial reality behind her and stepping into the rainbow of the Colour Room – a world of joy and possibility.

“It was thanks to the script winning at BAFTA Rocliffe and being performed on stage that it was picked up, and I’m thrilled to now be working with Phoebe and Matthew in bringing The Colour Room to life.”

Directed by Claire McCarthy (Ophelia), The Colour Room is shooting now in Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham, England.

The movie will premiere later this year in cinemas, and on demand in the UK on Sky Cinema.

Bridgerton has been renewed for a second season and filming is expected to begin this summer.

The Bridgerton novels are available on Amazon.