New Movie Adaptation for The Secret Garden

There have been three movie adaptations of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden to date. The first was a 1919 silent film version starring Lila Lee and Spottiswoode Aitken, the second a 1949 US drama and the most recent a 1993 adaptation with Dame Maggie Smith.

Classic books are always worthy of a new adaptation however, so the news that The Secret Garden is to have a new adaptation is great news indeed.

The new film will be written by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child writer Jack Thorne, and there will be some changes to the original story. The book was written in 1911 and so has an Edwardian setting, but Thorne will bring the story a little more up to date, setting the movie in 1947, contextualised with the aftermath of WWII and the partition of India.

So far two stars have been announced and they are Colin Firth (swoon) and Julie Walters (yes!). It’s said that production on the movie will start this week in the UK!

We know there have already been several adaptations, but hopefully this new movie will bring Burnett’s classic to a new generation of children

The Secret Garden US
The Secret Garden UK