The Fun Of The Fair

Rising star Olivia Cooke on leading a dazzling new adaptation of classic novel Vanity Fair...

- Emma Bullimore

The Summer of sport is finally over, and it’s time for a sumptuous period drama to whisk us away. ITV’s new adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s 19th-century novel Vanity Fair breathes new life into one of the most independent and audacious women in literature, the irrepressible Becky Sharp.

The seven-part series (which kicks off with two episodes this week) sees orphan Becky start out with nothing after being sacked from her job as a French teacher at an academy for young ladies.

Becky sets out into the world determined to seize any and every opportunity to make her fortune – no matter who she tramples on to get to the top – and meets suitors and setbacks along the way.

‘Becky’s completely her own woman and everything is on her terms,’ says rising star Olivia Cooke, who plays her. ‘She’s very selfish, unapologetic and completely manipulative when she wants to be, but she’s also fun, strong and sees the light in every situation – she never pretends to be virtuous. Some viewers may see her as the villain, but it’s subjective.’

Becky’s snooty former employer, headmistress Miss Pinkerton (played by Doctor Foster’s Suranne Jones), punishes her with the threat of working as a governess in ‘darkest Hampshire’ – a fate Becky dreads and sets out to avoid at all costs.