BritBox Confirms ‘The Cadburys’ Cast
'Chocolate Wars' will now be called 'The Cadburys' as BritBox announces the start of production.
BritBox’s latest period drama for chocoholics, a Victorian-era set story about the rise of the Cadbury company, was tentatively titled Chocolate Wars when it was first announced in the spring of 2026. However, the title is a little too close to multiple series over on Food Network – Cake Wars and Cupcake Wars – so it’s not a huge surprise that the start of filming was accompanied by an announcement of a new title: The Cadburys.
The six-part drama, a co-commission with UKTV, is based on author (and distant family relative) Deborah Cadbury’s non-fiction book, Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World’s Greatest Chocolate Makers. While her book focuses on the broader economics of late nineteenth-century Britain, the series is described as “a warm-hearted family drama that will follow the Cadbury clan, underdogs of the cocoa world, on their journey to creating the world-famous chocolate bar we all still recognize and love today.”
(It is highly doubtful the show plans to deal with the drastic differences in quality that ultimately develop between U.K. and U.S. Cadbury products, but as Flake Girls, we here at Telly Visions would like to make it clear that Americans deserve real Dairy Milk.)
Here’s the updated synopsis:
The Cadburys (previously Chocolate Wars) is a warm-hearted family drama following the visionary Cadbury family, the underdogs of the cocoa world, on their journey towards creating the world-famous Cadbury’s chocolate bar.
In 1860s Birmingham, when chocolate as we know it doesn’t yet exist, two very different brothers, Richard and George Cadbury, find themselves in charge of their family’s failing cocoa business. Together, they have the radical genius and burning ambition to turn Cadbury’s into one of the world’s most beloved confectioners – if they can only learn to trust and rely on each other. Their sister Maria is navigating her own role within the family and the business, but things become even more complicated when she falls in love with Cadbury’s biggest rival, Francis Fry, and is forced to question where her true loyalties really lie. Infused with historical delights and magical invention, The Cadburys is about how we build, break and rebuild the bonds of family – and how the sweetest things in life are rarely simple.
The series will be led by Harry Gilby (Boarders) as George Cadbury, Toby Regbo (A Woman of Substance) as Richard Cadbury, Jessica Barden (Dune: Prophecy) as Maria Cadbury, Pearce Quigley (The Gentlemen) as John Cadbury, Ben Hardy (The Woman in White) as Francis Fry, Joanna Scanlan (Riot Women), and Poppy Gilbert (The Other Bennett Sister) as Elizabeth Adlington.
Additional cast includes Felicity Montagu (Tom Jones), Mathew Baynton (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder), Adam Hashmi (Bridgerton), Oli Green (The Crown), Alexander Butler (Fackham Hall), plus small-screen newcomers Leah Swain-Heath, Maisie Britton, and Emma Montrochet.
Chloë Mi Lin Ewart (Beyond Paradise) leads the writing team, alongside Eve Hedderwick Turner (Anne Boleyn) and Karim Khan (All Creatures Great & Small). Directors Tom McKay (After the Flood) and Jill Robertson (Dalgleish) split helming duties, with Hannah Farrell producing. The series is executive produced by Faye Ward, Freddie Highmore, Hannah Price, and Claire Londy, alongside Helen Perry for UKTV and Jess O’Riordan & Jon Farrar for BritBox.
The Cadburys is currently filming in Birmingham and is expected to debut on UKTV and BritBox in 2027.
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