Channel 4’s new Woman of Substance is engrossing – but Brenda Blethyn fans will be gutted

Vera fans sitting down to A Woman of Substance on Channel 4 might initially struggle to recognise their dear Brenda Blethyn in this rags-to-riches saga.

Could that woman with the bouffant, jumbo sunglasses and debonair scarves be the same dishevelled, plodding DCI? Well, yes. 

This is Blethyn as Emma Harte, who we’re told in some clanging exposition is the richest woman in the world, for now at least. Because her share price is tanking thanks to some chicanery from her children.

‘What I’ve dedicated my life to is revenge,’ she tells us, before we’re spirited off from the campery of 1970s New York (or rather, Liverpool dressed up to look like New York) back to Yorkshire in 1911.

God’s own country fills the screen, much like it just did in Emerald Fennell’s controversial rendering of Wuthering Heights. Viewers might quibble with the sanctity of these adaptations, but that scenery cannot be argued with.

Romping across the Moors this time is the young, destitute incarnation of Emma, played by Outlander’s Jessica Reynolds, who slaves her days away as a maid in the gorgeous, imposing manor house Fairley Hall.

From the off, the eight-part adaptation of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s tome pummels you with plot.

The lady of the house (Leanne Best doing terrific stuff) is a recluse with a drinking problem who hasn’t ventured from her bedroom in some time. Her husband (an imposing Emmett J Scanlan) is eyeing up her ‘beige’ sister (Lydia Leonard, simmering away). Except he can only get an erection for his unhinged missus! It’s gloriously scurrilous stuff. 

Elsewhere on the property, an evil butler hovers around. As does a dishy chimney-sweep. A maid is having a dalliance with one of the Fairley boys. Emma is having her own dalliance with the other (Benedict Bridgerton he is not).

This is toff-in-waiting Edwin (Ewan Horrocks), blissfully unaware of the power imbalance between him and Emma, in a nod to current sexual politics. He and his family wrong her in all sorts of horrid ways, instigating that revenge we’ve been told of.

Edwin briefly distracts Emma from her ‘plan with a capital to P’ to get the heck out of dodge, saving up shillings from side hustle sewing gigs. With Blethyn’s stinking-rich future scenes, we know that stitching soon becomes a fashion empire.

Many tuning in will be doing so to see how it stacks up to Channel 4’s 1985 adaptation, starring Deborah Kerr and Jenny Seagrove. The three-parter was watched by nearly 14million people – ratings that are virtually unheard of now – setting a record for the broadcaster that still stands.

Looking back, that 80s miniseries is as dated as Margaret Thatcher’s back-combed hair, with a leaden pace that this iteration blows off, leaning into the slushy soap of the saga.

Every single scene brings a new plot point. It’s less surprising once you’ve seen Taylor Bradford’s doorstopper book, which this show doesn’t even wholly adapt. You certainly won’t watch A Woman of Substance and feel tedium creeping up on you.

I suspect Channel 4 is hoping to emulate what Disney pulled off with Dame Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, with its similarly sex-driven tale.

Unfortunately, the sex here isn’t terribly sexy. It’s more like the kind of sex that will make you wince, or maybe reach for the remote to turn down the thunderous moans.

But Emma is a fabulous character: headstrong, capable, with a knack for sweet-talking everyone who believes themselves to be above her. It’s tremendous fun to watch.

Reynolds glints with charm and her Yorkshire is faultless. Less convincing are the rousing emotional moments – little in Emma’s family life ends well – which she sometimes struggles to meet.

Occasionally, these are interspliced with Blenthyn’s Emma, who bookends episodes. The Vera stans will likely be disappointed; she just isn’t in it a great deal and when she is, her storylines feel a bit ho-hum compared to the thrilling rise to power going on in the past. 

But these aren’t major quibbles; this revenge romp might not beat the ratings of its predecessor, but it is certainly a worthy heir to that record.

A Woman of Substance will be available on Channel 4 from Wednesday, March 11 at 9pm, when it will also air on terrestrial.

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