Helena Bonham Carter to play Daphne du Maurier in celebration of novelist’s work

Actors Helena Bonham Carter and Bill Nighy will star in a play that forms a programme schedule celebrating the life and work of writer Daphne du Maurier.

BBC Radio 4 has announced a fortnight of special programming that will take place across the station and 4 Extra dedicated to the 20th century novelist’s work.

This includes a reading of biographical play Beside Myself, starring Bonham Carter, 57, as Du Maurier and Nighy, 74, as “man”, to air at 3pm on March 6 and follow Du Maurier as she starts a conversation with a stranger while on an amble.

The schedule for BBC Radio 4 starts with Double Exposure – Part One: Don’t Look Now, a story about a couple mourning their daughter, which will play at 3pm on Sunday March 3.

Following on from this will be a 10-part reading by actress Emma Fielding of Frenchman’s Creek, which will air at 10.45pm between March 4 and March 15.

Two dramas about the dark side of human nature will be read in Double Exposure – Part Two: The Blue Lenses and The Little Photographer, which will air on March 10 at 3pm.

A number of writers will also discuss the enduring legacy of Du Maurier’s novels in a programme on March 10 at 4pm.

Programming highlights on Radio 4 Extra include the retelling of a number of short stories, which will be read between March 6 and 8, and a reading on March 2 of her classic 1938 novel Rebecca, about a young woman who meets and marries a recent widower.

BBC Radio 4’s commissioning editor for drama and fiction, Alison Hindell, said: “Our Double Exposure collection ranges through Cornwall to France and Venice, featuring well-known and less familiar titles.

“I’m looking forward to providing listeners with a fresh take on Daphne du Maurier’s much-loved work, whose absorbing, satisfying and often unnerving storytelling continues to thrill readers, appeal to actors and inspire writers today.”

Du Maurier was born in London to actor and manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel Beaumont.

She published her first novel The Loving Spirit in 1931 and went on to publish many more, with her work exploring themes like war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock directed a film adaptation of Rebecca in 1940 and another movie inspired by the book starring Lily James and Armie Hammer was released in 2020.