A Woman of Substance: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

We meet the magnetic Emma Harte in 1911, as an impoverished, ambitious maid in Yorkshire, England, and follow her irresistible and dizzying climb to become the world's richest woman, gazing down on her sprawling empire from a luxury New York penthouse. The background to Emma Harte's rags-to-riches rise is the tale of women through the 20th century, as Emma defies the expectations of her society, fearlessly challenging the roles she's given, smashing glass ceilings, and never, ever deviating from her masterplan: Get to the top. Whatever it takes. A housemaid-turned-mogul, daughter, mother, lover, fighter and a 20th century feminist icon who refused to know her ‘place', Emma Harte returns to Channel 4 once again to delight and scandalise audiences.

Series details

• Title: A Woman of Substance
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama, History
• Premiere date: 2026-03-11
• Status in TVmaze: Running
• Web channel listed by TVmaze: Channel 4
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 47 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 7.2/10
• TVMaze ID: 82574
• IMDb ID: tt35060339
• TVDB ID: 460175

Cast and credited roles

• Brenda Blethyn — Emma Harte
• Jessica Reynolds — Young Emma Harte
• Emmett J. Scanlan — Adam Fairley
• Lydia Leonard — Olivia Wainwright
• Leanne Best — Adele Fairley
• Rosie Cavaliero — Edwina, Countess of Dunvale

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2026-03-11; final listed air date 2026-03-11; episode order: 8.
• Season 2: episode order: 8.

Source and licence

Adapted from A Woman of Substance on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.