Pair adapt Old Baggage for the screen

Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan are set to be reunited on screen in a new TV comedy about suffragettes.

Their production company George + George is developing a screen adaptation of Old Baggage, the bestselling comic novel by Lissa Evans.

Published last year, the book is set in 1928 and tells the story of a former militant Matilda Simpkin, now looking for a new outlet for her rebellious energies.

One of the pair will play Matilda and the other The Flea, her lifetime companion. However, US industry website Deadline – which reports the news – does not say which is which. 

Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan have previously starred together in Getting On and Puppy Love, pictured. Old Baggage would not be Pepperdine’s first suffragette-based comedy, as she also played Gwen in BBC Four’s Up The Women. 

Scanlan told Deadline: ‘Lissa's grasp of character and her immaculate feel for women's history made this property irresistible to us as actors and now producers. The book made us laugh, it made us cry and it kept us up reading till three in the morning. We can't wait to start to develop it for long-form television.’ 

The pair are working with Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow on the project.

Company chief executive Christine Langan added: ‘We wanted to work with George + George because of their talent for unearthing unique stories about women and presenting them to audiences in fresh, exciting and funny ways. Lissa's utterly charming Old Baggage is both a fascinating take on history and deeply relevant to the lives we live today.’

No broadcaster has yet been publicly attached to the project.

Published: 24 Jan 2019