The 'Tom Jones' Trailer Introduces Henry Fielding's Timeless Tale of Class and Romance

Our first proper look at the upcoming Masterpiece adaptation of Tom Jones is here. It’s got everything that fans of Henry Fielding’s classic novel could have hoped for: Swoony romance, gorgeous gowns, a familiar debate about class, and whether marriage should be based on love or some combination of money, social position, and general prestige.

While Fielding’s novel (full title: The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling) is rightly categorized as groundbreaking in many ways—it’s one of the first works of literature that can rightly be called a novel as we recognize it, it features many of the same stylistic tropes of comedic storytelling we still embrace today, such as a central romantic pairing and a happily ever after—it’s also not a tale that’s been adapted for the screen very often. A 1963 feature film starred Albert Finney as Tom and won four Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. A BBC television version with Max Beesley aired in 1997, and the book formed the basis for several operas, stage plays, and even a jukebox musical (which, yes, featured the songs of the singer also named Tom Jones, because, of course, it did.) But this four-part limited series will be Masterpiece’s first crack at the story.

Solly McLeod (House of the Dragon) stars as the handsome, resourceful title character, with Sophie Wilde (You Don’t Know Me) as the beautiful, bright, seemingly unattainable love of his life, Sophia Western. He is a foundling of uncertain parentage, while she is an heiress. In 18th-century England, their class differences make their journey to find each other complicated and treacherous.