A spoonful of sugar may still be involved, but the next trip with Mary Poppins could have a rather different flavour. A ‘Mary Poppins’ TV series is in early development, with plans to draw on P. L. Travers’ eight original books and the larger, stranger world they created.
According to Deadline, this would be a live-action adaptation of the novels, rather than a retelling of Disney’s 1964 film starring Julie Andrews (The Sound of Music) and Dick Van Dyke (The Dick Van Dyke Show). Readers of Travers’ books will know that their Mary Poppins can be considerably more mysterious and unpredictable than the screen version. Her adventures can get surreal and, at times, a little frightening. There should be plenty for a series to explore beyond the songs and scenes everyone knows.
Tom Winchester is developing and producing the project through Pure Fiction Television. He has optioned the rights from the trustees of Travers’ estate and is approaching potential showrunners, although no writer, cast or broadcaster has been announced. Pure Fiction is backed by See-Saw Films, whose productions include ‘Slow Horses’ and ‘Heartstopper’, alongside UK talent agency Hamilton Hodell.
There is also the rather large question of Disney. Deadline reports that early conversations have taken place with the studio, but nothing has been agreed. The project does not require Disney’s involvement from a rights perspective, according to the report, though the team behind it hopes the company might want to take part given its long history with Mary Poppins.
That history has occasionally been complicated. Travers was famously unhappy with Disney’s version of her books, a relationship later dramatised in ‘Saving Mr. Banks’, starring Emma Thompson (Love Actually) and Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump). Disney returned to the character in 2018 with ‘Mary Poppins Returns’, led by Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton). This proposed series appears to offer another route: more time in the world of the books and a chance to meet a Mary Poppins who may be harder to pin down.
Winchester has experience with ambitious adaptations. He produced the first season of ‘Shōgun’ and is also developing Barry Eisler’s John Rain novels as a series for Apple TV.
For now, though, ‘Mary Poppins’ remains at the pitch stage. There is no confirmed home, production schedule or premiere date. Mary herself would probably call that quite enough questions for one afternoon.
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