If you loved Brenda Blethyn in Vera, then you’ll be excited to hear the actress is returning to our TV screens next year – and this time she’s stepping away from her green raincoat and fisherman hat attire.

Differently, Brenda will putting her glad-rags on to play the role of Emma Harte in Channel 4’s upcoming drama Woman of Substance, which is based off of the bestselling novel of the same name, written by Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE.

While the channel previously adapted the novel in 1984 too, Channel 4have confirmed the new drama feels as searingly relevant today as it did back then.

The storyline will follow the rag-to-riches tale of a young woman called Emma Harte, who was originally an impoverished, yet ambitious maid in Yorkshire, who goes on a dizzying journey to become the world’s richest woman, gazing down from a sprawling luxury New York penthouse.

brenda blethyn in new channel 4 drama woman of substance

Defying all the expectations of 20th century women at that time, she fearlessly challenges the roles she’s given, smashing glass ceilings, and never, ever deviating from her masterplan, which is: Get to the top – whatever it takes!

The character of Emma will be split into two, with Jessica Reynolds playing the young, maid and Brenda, playing the 20th century feminist icon she becomes.

Filming has recently taken place in Yorkshire, but there’s still not an official date that Woman of Substance will be on our screens.

We can’t wait to watch it!