ITV has picked up a dramatic re-imagining of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, titled Peter & Wendy. The miniseries will star Stanley Tucci and Paloma Faith.
British network ITV announced a number of new TV series today, including the two-hour drama Peter & Wendy.
Written by BAFTA winner Adrian Hodges (My Week with Marilyn, The Musketeers), Peter & Wendy is a modern-day (ish) retelling of the timeless Peter Pan story.
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Set in a London hospital, 12-year-old Lucy (Hazel Doupe) is awaiting treatment for a serious heart condition. The night before her operation, she reads J.M. Barrie’s novel to a crowd of sick children, and when she goes to sleep, she dreams of the fantastic world of Neverland.
The classic tale of Peter Pan is thus re-told through the young girl’s imagination, with the people around her doubling as key characters in the story: Lucy’s mother Julie (Laura Fraser) becomes Mrs. Darling and the doctor performing the surgery (Stanley Tucci) becomes Captain Hook.
Singer Paloma Faith has been cast as Tinkerbell, with newcomer Zac Sutcliffe playing Peter Pan. Bjarne Henriksen, Ben Crompton and Rasmus Hardiker also star.
Related: Stanley Tucci to play the “grand piano” in live-action Beauty and the Beast
The story will cut between Lucy’s hospital experiences and her imaginary adventures in Neverland. The common theme will be “positivity and belief,” which of course makes us hopeful for a happy ending.
ITV’s Director of Drama Steve November says in a statement, “I’m delighted to be bringing J.M. Barrie’s classic story of Peter Pan to ITV. This wonderful interpretation by Adrian Hodges is faithful to Barrie’s original, but adds a new and unexpected dimension that makes it feel as though we are hearing the story for the first time.”
Production on Peter & Wendy is ongoing.
Stanley Tucci can next be seen as Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, and is also set to play an enchanted piano named Cadenza in Beauty & the Beast.