BBC To Adapt Vikram Seth's 'A Suitable Boy' Into Period Drama

The BBC will adapt Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy into a period drama. It will be BBC’s first period drama featuring an entirely non-white cast. The acclaimed book will be made into an eight-part series and filming is likely to start later this year, according to The Telegraph.

Andrew Davies, who also wrote BBC remakes of Pride and Prejudice and War and Peace will be writing the script.

Piers Wenger, BBC’s head of drama, said that the decision to adapt Seth’s book was part of a deliberate gamble. We know that the biggest risks deliver the biggest hits and in a landscape which is so fast changing, ideas need to be well ahead of the curve.

The announcement comes after its regulator Ofcom had said that the channel was too focused on middle-aged, middle-class audiences and that it could do more for the wider public, ethnic minorities, and younger groups.

The series will be shot in India and the show is expected to occupy the Sunday night slot on the BBC

Seth’s A Suitable Boy, is a coming of age story, which was published in 1993. At 1,349 pages, it is one of the longest novels ever published.

The story follows the story of four families and revolves around the marriage of Mrs Rupa Mehra’s youngest daughter, Lata, and her quest to find a suitable boy. Lata is the central character of the novel. She is educated and questions the concept of an arranged marriage. She frequently questions the limitations placed on girls.

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