Normal People fans, rejoice: screenwriter Alice Birch has penned a script for the big screen. And, even better, the period drama will star none other than the queen herself.

Yeah, you better believe we’re talking about The Crown’s Olivia Colman.

“It truly felt like the planets aligned when this wonderful screenplay, Mothering Sunday somehow found its way to me,” director Eva Husson tells Deadline of the movie.

“Alice Birch seemed to whisper in my ear, and I felt everything I’d done so far prepared me for this specific story. It was a culmination of all that I am obsessed with in life: writing, sensuality, and pure cinema. And I finished the script in tears, not from sadness, but because it cracked me open, like the most honest works do.”

With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about upcoming film Mothering Sunday.

What’s the plot of Mothering Sunday?

Based on Graham Swift’s acclaimed novel of the same name, Mothering Sunday tells the tale of the orphaned Jane Fairchild, a maid who has worked at the Nivens’ estate since she was 16. And, for almost all of those years, she has been the secret lover of Paul Sheringham, the scion of the Upleigh estate next door.

Paul is the only survivor of five sons between the two households, the others having been killed in the First World War. And there is a sense of looming tragedy when, on an unseasonably warm Mother’s Day in 1924, Jane and Paul come together as lovers for the very last time. However, this is not just a tale of clandestine passion: as the story unfolds, we soon realise that this is also the day that marks the beginning of Jane’s transformation.

As Jane herself asks: “Can you step through a mirror and be someone else?”

Who makes up the cast of Mothering Sunday?

Odessa Young stars as Jane Fairchild in Mothering Sunday, while The Crown’s Josh O’Connor will portray her lover, Paul Sheringham.

Olivia Colman and Colin Firth, meanwhile, will take on the roles of Mr and Mrs Niven respectively, aka the master and mistress of the household in which Jane is employed as a maid.

And, yes, they are the ones who open a door to the young orphan when they allow her to borrow books from their library, too.

Is there a trailer for Mothering Sunday?

Not yet, sadly. We’ll keep you posted just as soon as one is released.

What has been said about Mothering Sunday?

Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley – who are producing the project together via Number 9 – have said: “The combination of the Alice Birch screenplay Eva’s direction and the incredible source material of Graham Swift’s novel, and this amazing cast make the prospect of Mothering Sunday a producers dream!”

When will Mothering Sunday hit cinemas in the UK?

We have a while to wait, as Mothering Sunday isn’t due to begin filming until autumn 2020.

Images: Getty