Helena Bonham Carter, Jane Horrocks and Anne-Marie Duff will play the leading roles in three one-off films about the careers of British female icons Enid Blyton, Gracie Fields and Margot Fonteyn. The programmes will premiere this autumn in a special season of dramas on BBC Four. Harry Potter and Sweeney Todd actress Helena will play Enid Blyton in a drama that explores the life of the author behind the Famous Five and Secret Seven, who sold more than 500 million books in 40 countries. Little Voice star Jane will play Gracie Fields in a romantic comedy about the singer and comedienne from Rochdale who rose to fame in the Thirties, becoming the highest-paid film actress in the world. The film will explore the long-term repercussions of her relationship with Italian-born Hollywood director Monty Banks and Jane will sing a repertoire of Gracie's songs including Sally, Sing As We Go and I Never Cried So Much In All My Life. Anne-Marie, from Is Anybody There, will play dancer Margot Fonteyn in a 90-minute drama which will explore her relationship with Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Their partnership became internationally renowned and Fonteyn achieved global stardom and celebrity of a kind that had never existed before. Richard Klein, controller for the channel, said: "These films are sympathetic but frank dramatisations of women in the spotlight and how their backstage lives play out."
