It was Sarah Ferguson’s grand plan to infiltrate Hollywood’s glittering inner circles and finally solve her and her ex-husband’s money troubles. That is, until it all came crashing down this week.
I can reveal the Duchess of York has been desperately attempting to bag a major – and more importantly, lucrative – deal to turn her historical novel Her Heart For A Compass and its sequel A Most Intriguing Lady into a starry television drama.
Fergie, I am told, had been working with producers for a number of years and was ‘tantalisingly close’ to securing her big payday.
She had even mapped out storyboards and plot paths for the multi-part series, which had been pitched to major streamers including Netflix and Amazon.
However, Fergie’s plans to secure a key revenue stream for her and her ex-husband Prince Andrew, with whom she lives at Royal Lodge in Windsor, now lies in tatters after the Mail on Sunday revealed a series of fawning emails she sent to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein – who she described as a ‘supreme friend’ – weeks after publicly distancing herself from him.
One major Hollywood dealmaker who was aware of the project has told the Daily Mail that the series is now ‘dead and buried’.
‘For Sarah to be linked to this scandal at this time in the US is just so toxic for the project. It will never see the light of day.’
The Duchess of York has been engulfed in scandal after the Mail on Sunday revealed a series of fawning emails she sent to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein
The crisis is another blow to Sarah and her ex-husband, the Duke of York, both having been heavily criticised for their friendship with Epstein
Fergie, 65, had boasted to friends and publicly that her screen adaptation would make her an A-lister in Hollywood and even bragged that it could see her win major honours such as a Golden Globe and Emmy award.
Her Heart For A Compass, published in 2021 and co-written with her long-time collaborator Marguerite Kaye, is a historical fiction based on the life of Ferguson’s great-great-aunt Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott.
Set during the Victorian era, it takes place in a series of grand mansions across England, Scotland and Ireland as well as 1870s New York.
It was an instant Sunday Times bestseller and publishers were quick to nail down a second instalment, which was described by Ferguson as ‘Peaky Blinders meets Pride and Prejudice’.
The insider, who was privy to the development of the show, said: ‘It would have tapped perfectly into that Bridgerton and Downton Abbey market – which is so strong here in the States.’
‘It’s a great shame really, as it sounded like it was actually going to be a really good watch.’
‘It was going to be her two fingers up to Prince Harry and Meghan, showing them that she could succeed where they couldn’t,’ they said, referring to Meghan’s most recent Netflix cooking show, With Love, Meghan, which drew scathing reviews when it aired.
The Duchess turned her popular children’s book series Budgie The Little Helicopter into an animated series in the 1990s
A project which is now too controversial to handle
Fergie had high hopes for her drama – even attempting to bag Outlander star Sam Heughan as her leading man. Insiders say he never signed on to the project.
Last night a multi award-winning LA producer – who brokers deals for books for broadcast and streamers – confirmed: ‘Sarah Ferguson’s scandal means this show is cooked. It isn’t going to be picked by anyone because this Epstein connection makes the brand totally toxic at this time in Hollywood.’
‘It was known that Sarah had been shopping around the idea of making her books like a new version of Bridgerton,’ they said. ‘She obviously traded on her connection to being the real-life royal who would be once again loved by Americans.
‘The initial outreach on the first book was given a lukewarm reaction but when book number two came along, there was a sense that this could become a solid property and a fun product to promote.
‘But today the talk of the town is “f*** no”. It is just a project which is now too controversial to handle.’
The insider added: ‘There is no way Fergie could sit on any TV show in the US without someone bringing up the email and Epstein.’
The doomed series wouldn’t have been Ferguson’s first foray into entertainment. She co-produced The Young Victoria alongside Martin Scorsese, which chronicled the life of the queen and starred Emily Blunt. The Duchess also turned her popular children’s book series Budgie The Little Helicopter into an animated series, running for three seasons in the mid-1990s.
But this was the project that she hoped would make her name in the entertainment industry.
She is a huge fan of historical fiction and a self-confessed fan of Bridgerton, revealing last year that she would like to make a cameo.
Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine in December, the Duchess of York joined Coronation Street star Sally Dynevor, whose daughter Phoebe plays Daphne in the Netflix hit. Host Lorraine Kelly suggested Sarah should make an appearance on Coronation Street – but the mother of two claimed she had her heart set on appearing in Bridgerton instead.
She said: ‘I am game on for Bridgerton. I have told Shonda Rhimes [the show’s executive producer]. I said: ‘Shonda “I am coming in.”’
But after recent events, Shonda won’t be picking up the phone any time soon.