PBS Books presents this VIRTUAL TALK with world-renowned Ashley Pharoah, screenwriter of the new MASTERPIECE adaptation Around the World in Eighty Days.
Around the World in Eighty Days is the classic adventure novel by Jules Verne. A new, 8-part adaptation of the novel airs on MASTERPIECE beginning January 2, 2022. Our guest is its creator, writer, and executive producer—Ashley Pharoah. In Jules Verne’s story, wealthy Victorian eccentric Phileas Fogg wagers he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days. David Tennant stars as literature’s greatest explorer; he’s joined by Ibrahim Koma and Leonie Benesch, who costar as his intrepid traveling companions. Don’t miss getting an inside-look at what writer Ashley Pharoah was thinking. Watch Around the World In 80 Days, Sundays, Jan. 2-Feb. 20, 2022, 8/7c only on MASTERPIECE on PBS.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Ashley Pharoh was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School, Bristol, and the University Of Sussex, where he read English. He studied screenwriting at The National Film And Television School, where his graduation film Water’s Edge was nominated for a BAFTA. After cutting his teeth on Eastenders, Ashley created Where The Heart Is for ITV, a series that ran for over ten years. Other series that Ashley created and wrote during this time include Paradise Heights, Down To Earth, Life Support, Bonekickers and Anchor Me. Classic adaptations include Tom Brown’s Schooldays (starring Stephen Fry and Alex Pettyfer), Under the Greenwood Tree (starring Keeley Hawes), and Moonfleet (starring Ray Winstone). Contemporary adaptations include Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories starring Jason Isaacs. Ashley co-created Life on Mars and its sequel, Ashes To Ashes, winning two International Emmys. There was a series about misbehaving angels for ITV – Eternal Law – and the long-running saga of a family trying to make a go of it on a South African game farm, Wild At Heart. Wrote and produced The Living And The Dead, set in rural Somerset in 1894, about a man of science who starts to see ghosts. It starred Colin Morgan and Charlotte Spencer.
His reimagining of Around The World In Eighty Days, starring David Tennant, was filmed in Bucharest and Cape Town during very challenging COVID conditions and will be screened Christmas 2021. In 2011 Ashley was made an Honorary Fellow of The National Film And Television School “in recognition of outstanding contribution to the British film and television industry”. In a ceremony at Bath Abbey in 2016, Ashley was made a Doctor of Letters by Bath Spa University for his contribution to screenwriting and television production.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Amanda Mountain is the first female CEO in RMPBS history and is one of the youngest public media CEOs in the country. She has nearly 20 years of experience in media and has worked in leadership roles at Freedom Communications and Viacom in addition to her six year tenure at RMPBS before taking over at the helm.