Ballet Shoes Dances Onto BBC One

BBC Drama today announces a major new dramatisation of Ballet Shoes, the classic novel by Noel Streatfeild. The feature-length film will transmit on BBC One later this year.

Ballet Shoes is a Granada production for BBC One and has been adapted by the acclaimed screenwriter Heidi Thomas (I Capture The Castle, Lilies, The Cranford Chronicles). Victoria Wood, Richard Griffiths and Marc Warren will star with full cast announced later this month.

It is directed by Sandra Goldbacher (The Governess, Me Without You) and produced by Piers Wenger (Housewife, 49).

Set in Thirties London, Ballet Shoes tells the exhilarating tale of orphans Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil, who are adopted by an eccentric explorer, "Gum", and raised as sisters by his selfless niece. The timeless and uplifting story revolves around each girl's struggle to fulfil her dreams: Pauline longs to be an actress, Petrova yearns to be an aviator, and Posy seems born to be a ballerina.

But when "Gum" disappears, the money runs out – and the girls have a fight on their hands. Their struggle to balance personal ambition with the need to survive physically, emotionally, and financially, proves moving and comic by turns.

Ballet Shoes, first published in September 1936, was an immediate bestseller, and has never been out of print.

Patrick Spence, Head of Drama, BBC Northern Ireland, comments: "Ballet Shoes has been loved by generations of readers, and is cherished throughout the world. The Fossil sisters don't just touch hearts, they steal them."

Heidi Thomas adds: "When I was a child, I slept with this book beneath my pillow. It has the power to inspire like no other."

Ballet Shoes is due to begin shooting in August 2007.