Life Story of Joan & Jackie Collins Getting TV Treatment

Stan & Ollie producer Fable Pictures has secured the TV rights to tell the definitive story of the British sisters Dame Joan and Jackie Collins.

The series will recount the lives of the two heroines on the journeys of their careers, through personal tragedy and triumph. The inside story charts their lives from a teenage bedroom in post-war London to the glamour of 1980s Beverly Hills.

Dame Joan Collins won one of the last studio contracts in Hollywood’s Golden Age, serving as 20th Century Fox’s ingenue. In 1982, she became the highest paid female star on television for her performance as the femme-fatale businesswoman Alexis Carrington in the hit series Dynasty. Jackie Collins joined big sister Joan in Los Angeles and eventually began to write novels inspired by her experiences, essentially reinventing women’s fiction. In 1982, she received a record-breaking $1 million advance for her novel Hollywood Wives and has written 32 New York Times best-selling novels, selling more than 500 million books around the world.

The six-hour series will be produced by Fable Pictures and distributed globally by Sony Pictures Television. Executive producers are Caroline Harvey, Faye Ward (The Crown season one, Suffragette, Stan & Ollie) and Hannah Farrell (Suffragette, Jane Eyre). Playwright Penelope Skinner (The Village Bike, Linda) will pen the series.

Dame Joan Collins said: “I am delighted that such a prestigious team wants to tell our story, and I know my sister Jackie would be as excited as I am to be involved!”

Jackie Collins’ daughters said: “We are delighted that Faye, Caroline and Sony Pictures Television will be producing the remarkable story of our mother and our aunt and their rise to stardom. Our mother always told us when we were growing up that ‘Girls can do anything!’ and Joan & Jackie will fabulously depict how true that is!”

Skinner commented: “I am thrilled to be working on the fascinating story of these fabulous, iconic and powerful women. There is far more to Joan and Jackie than diamonds and shoulder pads: these are two very special sisters whose lives are both aspirational and inspirational.”

Ward and Harvey said: “This is a dream project for us. We are delighted that the Collins’ family have entrusted us with this empowering story about two exceptional sisters who challenged the status quo, set their hearts on their wildest Hollywood dreams and achieved them on their own terms.”