When does the BBC’s new ‘Little Women’ mini-series start?

A new TV adaptation of Little Women will air over three consecutive days this Christmas on BBC One.

From the makers of Wolf Hall and the executive producer of Downton Abbey, the new mini-series began filming in Ireland in July.

American author Louisa May Alcott’s classic 1868 novel has been adapted for television by Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas.

The first of three one-hour episodes will air on BBC One in the UK at 8pm on Tuesday 26 December.

Episode 2 will air at 8pm on Wednesday 27 December.

Episode 3 will air at 8.30pm on Thursday 28 December.

The all-star cast includes Emily Watson (The Theory of Everything) as Marmee, Dame Angela Lansbury (Murder She Wrote) as Aunt March, Michael Gambon (Harry Potter) as their neighbour Mr. Laurence and Jonah Hauer-King as Laurie Laurence, alongside Maya Hawke, Willa Fitzgerald, Annes Elwy and Kathryn Newton as the iconic March sisters.

The official synopsis for Episode 1 reads: “Christmas, 1861. The March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – prepare for a Christmas without presents or their father, a Union army chaplain who is away at war.
Learning to appreciate the smaller things in life, the sisters strike up a friendship with their charming new neighbour Laurie, and his tutor John Brooke.

“When the holidays are over Meg and Jo return to work so that they can provide for the family. By the new year, Amy and Jo are clashing over an invitation to the theatre and a rash act of revenge, until a life-threatening event encourages them to put their differences aside.

“In the summer Beth struggles to overcome her social anxiety, while Meg grows closer to John.

“As autumn of 1862 sets in, the family receives the terrible news: Mr March has been taken ill in an army hospital in Washington D.C. The girls anxiously await news of their father’s fate, as their mother Marmee, accompanied by John, rushes to his side.”

A co-production with Masterpiece on PBS, Little Women will air in the US on PBS in 2018.