Brontë descendants to visit Bradford district for film about the family's life

 

DESCENDANTS of the Brontës will visit the Bradford district during the filming of a new documentary about the family’s lives. Lifelong Brontë enthusiast Imelda Marsden will portray the Brontë’s story through the eyes of a Shipley nurse whose ancestor was Patrick Brontë’s sister Sarah. The 20-year-old nurse, known only as Rebecca, will tour West Yorkshire with her grandmother visiting sites where the Brontë sisters lived, worked or stayed. During visits to Haworth, Thornton, Dewsbury and Mirfield, they will also visit houses and landscapes that inspired Brontë novels like Jane Eyre, Shirley and Agnes Grey. Interviews and travelogues will be intercut with dramatised scenes recreating events from Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell’s early life. The resulting DVD will go on sale at Brontë shrines open to the public, including the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Red House and Oakwell Hall. Proceeds will go to Hollybank School in Mirfield, for children with learning disabilities, whose pupils will play Brontë children in the DVD. The film will be one of several being made by companies including the BBC this year to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth. Imelda’s film crew will be led by professional TV documentary maker John Thirwell, who is also a member of the Brontë Society Council. thetelegraphandargus