Amazon has announced that the 1980s British crime drama classic mini-series Widows will launch exclusively on Prime Video in the UK, ahead of a new film based on the series debuting in cinemas directed by the Academy-Award winning director of 12 Years A Slave, Steve McQueen, and starring Academy-Award winning Viola Davis (Fences). The original TV series, written by Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect), originally aired in 1983 and is the inspiration for McQueen’s film.

With an all-female lead cast, Widows launched the careers of many of its stars including Eastenders’ Ann Mitchell, Fiona Hendley, (Jane) and Maureen O’Farrell (Arabian Nights) and Eva Mottley (Poor Little Rich Girls). When three armed robbers die when the security van that they are robbing catches fire in the Kingsway Tunnel in London, their widows, Dolly Rawlins (Ann Mitchell, EastEnders), Shirley Miller (Fiona Hendley, Jane) and Linda Pirelli (Maureen O’Farrell, Arabian Nights), find their husbands’ plans for the robbery and decide to stage it themselves. They enlist the help of a fourth woman, Bella O’Reilly (Eva Mottley, Poor Little Rich Girls) and succeed in making off with the cash. Then Dolly learns that her husband didn’t die in the robbery. And now he wants his money back…

Widows was produced by Euston Films and Thames Television. The mini-series was created by award-winning author, screenwriter and former actress, Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect), and executive produced by Verity Lambert (Eldorado).

All 12 episodes of series 1 and 2 of Widows will be available on Prime Video from today.

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