With series 3 of Poldark now in the bag, the plans for series writer Debbie Horsfield’s new show, Age Before Beauty, are starting to come together. Indeed, filming on the BBC One drama is due to start next week, we’re told.

Age Before Beauty‘s six-part story will centre around a Manchester beauty salon. This appears to return Horsfield to a similar territory to that which she explored during her time writing for ITV drama Cutting It. Robson Green (Granchester), Sue Johnston (Downton Abbey), Polly Walker (Mr Selfridge) and James Murray (Him) will play the key characters in the show’s “exploration of youth, age, instant gratification and long-term relationships set within the beauty industry”.

Also starring in the series are Lisa Riley (Three Girls), Kelly Harrison (The Level),Vicky Myers (The Five) and Madeleine Mantock (Into the Badlands).

The press release also tells us…

“Married to Wesley (Murray) for 25 years, Bel (Walker) has spent the last 18 years as a homemaker and mum to their twins, but having just waved them off to university, now has a void in her life. Enter Teddy (Green), brother-in-law and long-time best friend, begging her to step in and rescue the family business – a down-at-heel beauty salon in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

Like Bel, it could do with a bit of a face-lift. And possibly a clear-out, since it employs her high-maintenance family: mother Ivy-Rae played by Johnston (Northern Soul fanatic and spray tan technician), sisters Leanne (Harrison – part-time nail technician, part-time personal stylist), Tina (Riley -body artist aka tattooist) and Heidi (Myers – fillers and Botox, Cosmetic Surgery addict) mother to Disney, plump, seven year old wannabe Pageant Queen.

Into the mix comes beautiful 20-something Personal Trainer Lorelei (Mantock) who seems to have caught Wes’s eye… can Bel reconcile the demands of her business, her warring family and the problems in her marriage?”

Age Before Beauty is produced by Guy De Glanville. It will be directed by Paul Norton Walker, whose work on Riviera can be seen on Sky Atlantic soon.

You can read more about Poldark series 3 here.