Well, it’s about time!
After many, many complaints about the PBS hit show “Downton Abbey” not having any Jewish characters, Downton makers Carnival Films have confirmed they are developing a similar show with a Jewish family, UK’s Jewish Chronicle reports.
The show will be based on the Francesca Segal’s book, “The Innocents,” which is loosely based on Edith Wharton’s classic novel “The Age of Innocence.”
The book, which won the 2012 Costa First Novel award and the 2012 National Jewish book award, is set in a modern-day, upper-crust Temple Fortune, a tight-knit Jewish community in North West London. The book opens with a scene during Kol Nidre, where a bunch of people are gossiping in shul, and the story follows 28-year-old Adam Newman, who is destined to marry his girlfriend of 12 years, Rachel Gilbert, but ultimately falls to the attraction of her younger cousin, Ellie Schneider.
There are no more details about the show, other than the show being “in development,” but we’re excited to see who will be the Jewish Earl of Grantham, and of course, how much pushier the character of the Dowager Duchess will be once she’s Jewish.
UPDATE: Carnival Films has confirmed to JTA they have bought the rights to Segal’s book, but the show isn’t in development yet.
