BBC One has announced a new adaptation of EF Benson’s Mapp and Lucia.

Set in the small English town of Tilling, the comic drama takes place in the summer of 1930, celebrating and lampooning the snobberies and pretensions of small town life.

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Mapp and Lucia is adapted by Steve Pemberton (Inside No 9, The League Of Gentlemen).

Pemberton commented: “As a long-time fan of EF Benson’s Mapp and Lucia novels, I’m incredibly proud and privileged to be scripting a brand-new adaptation for the BBC. I feel sure viewers will relish their time in Tilling, and will enjoy watching the slyly scheming Mapp take on the gloriously haughty Lucia in a dizzying round of bitter bridge parties, devious dinners and malicious musical evenings.

“Benson’s deplorably funny novels and cast of subversive, eccentric characters have been entertaining readers for over 90 years, and I hope to bring Tilling thrillingly to life. But be warned: this is no jolly period romp. This is a series about a war. May the worst-behaved woman win.”

Kate Harwood, Head of In-House BBC Drama Production, added: “It is fantastic to see Steve Pemberton’s high quality Mapp and Lucia scripts joining our slate of upcoming dramas for BBC In-House Drama Production England. It promises to be a truly original British treat for BBC One viewers.”

Mapp and Lucia begins filming in early summer in Rye, Sussex, which was the template for Benson’s Tilling.

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