A dramatisation of Margaret Mitchell’s famous and contested novel, set against the epic backdrop of the American Civil War and the collapse of the old Southern order, and centred on the fiercely determined Scarlett O’Hara.
Part of The Story of America, a major collection of dramatisations of milestone American titles marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the United States. This three-part drama revisits a foundational American story with fresh eyes.
Set against the epic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning Gone with the Wind remains an iconic and stunning tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. It was an instant best seller and has now sold more than 30 million copies worldwide: the screen adaptation of 1939 became the world’s biggest box office selling film. As recently as 2014 it was voted the most popular book in America after the Bible and The New York Times describes it as ‘Beyond a doubt one of the most remarkable first novels produced by an American writer. It is also one of the best.’
The famous story of the trials of feisty, once-spoiled Scarlett O’Hara as she struggles to adapt to the shattering of her world is both an epic adventure and one of literature’s greatest romances. It is about people who fight to the end for their dreams. But it is also about what happens when dreams die. How do you rebuild a life when your world is blasted into rubble? How do you bring lasting peace to a nation that is fundamentally conflicted? What does freedom mean and what does it look like when everything you knew is gone and everyone you loved is dead?
‘War is men’s business, not ladies,’ the young men of the novel tell themselves as they prepare for battle. And yet Gone with the Wind gives us a young heroine whose spirit and ability to survive outstrips the male world around her. It reminds us that the repercussions of civil war continue to be felt for generations: the past has consequences in the present. This is a major retelling of a story that remains at the heart of the American experience.
Episode One: An iconic and stunning tale of love and loss, of a nation divided and a people forever changed.
Episode Two: Atlanta has gone up in flames and Scarlett anxiously waits to see if Rhett can help them escape back to Tara.
Episode Three: After the attack outside Shantytown, Sam has endangered himself by saving Scarlett, and the tension and danger continues to mount in Atlanta.
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