Little Women, BBC One

The March sisters are coming to the small screen, as Little Women gets a glittering make over in time for Christmas this year, in a lavish new BBC One adaptation.

The 1868 story written by Louis May Alcott follows four sisters, Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth as they strike out on their own and navigate the difficult waters between childhood and adulthood, all set against the backdrop of the American Civil War.

This three-part dramatisation is the first major adaptation of the story since the 1994 film – which was a breakout role for Stranger Things heroine Winona Ryder.

This time, the four young March sisters are played by Maya Hawke as the headstrong Jo, Willa Fitzgerald who plays the eldest daughter Meg, Annes Elwy (who recently starred in Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams) as delicate, kindly Beth, and Kathryn Newton as impulsive youngest sister Amy.

Perhaps most excitingly of all, Harry Potter star Michael Gambon appears as the March family’s benevolent neighbour, Mr Laurence, alongside Apple Tree Yard star Emily Watson who stars as the benevolent matriarch of the piece, Marmee.

Although set during a very particular time in American history, the story tells a universal tale of young women struggling to make a place for themselves in the world, capturing sibling rivalry, female ambition and love in its petticoated scope.