Wonderland (4 x 60’), an Odyssey Television production and commissioned and fully funded by Sky UK, is directed and produced by Adrian Munsey (E. M. Forster: His Longest Journey, Thomas Hardy: Fate, Exclusion and Tragedy). 

The fascinating four-part series, based on children’s authors and the pain behind their own stories, combines biography, literary extracts and quotations, together with special moments from the many films made of the work of these wonderful authors, who include acclaimed writers such as Arthur Ransome, Kenneth Grahame, A. A. Milne, JM Barrie, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll and Beatrix Potter, amongst many others.   

Their world is an extraordinary one, telling much about the individuals concerned and the position of Britain itself in the transforming period of its history from 1880 until 1940.

Jonathan Ford, Managing Director at AMR comments, “In a remarkable sixty-year period, unforgettable children’s literature was created in Britain. Wonderland reveals the extraordinary line up of writers who created other worlds which were joyful and exciting to escape the harsh difficulty of life for many at this time.  We are sure that this delightful series will once again become an opportunity for viewers to enjoy these stories from their childhood.”

An extraordinary range of writers turned to a form of writing where they created “Wonderlands” and “Neverlands” – places of happiness in which children and adults were portrayed as living in a joyful world, where most of the sorrows, difficulties and tragedies of adult life were simply removed.  

Adrian Munsey, Odyssey Television says,”It is wonderful to be given the opportunity to make a series about the extraordinary worlds of these great authors’ lives – and the pleasure and hope their work has given to children and adults alike so often, and for so long.” 

Commissioned by Jack Oliver, Head of Co-Productions at Sky, and Philip Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts and Entertainment. Wonderland will air on Sky Arts, Freeview Channel 11, later this year. 

Philip Edgar-Jones adds, “Wonderland captures a uniquely fertile period where literary imagination born often from pain and trauma transported us to new and magical worlds. The programme takes us on an equally magical journey into the lives of these great writers and we are excited to unpack this great art for the Sky Arts audience.”