SILVER SPRING, MD; April 29, 2008 —Acorn Media announces the June 24, 2008 North American debut of Wide Sargasso Sea, a richly provocative, erotic, and stunning new production of the acclaimed novel by Jean Rhys.

In a story dubbed a prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Rhys imagines how Mr. Rochester met and married his first wife and how she wound up as the madwoman in the attic. In early 1800s Jamaica, young Englishman Edward Rochester (Rafe Spall) wins the heart of beautiful Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway (Rebecca Hall). The newlyweds’ ecstatic lust quickly turns to suspicion and betrayal as her world and his disastrously collide. Filmed as a companion piece to the new BBC Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre), this fresh adaptation of Wide Sargasso Sea captures all the sensuality, suspense, and nuance of Rhys’s masterpiece.

In this passionate and heartbreaking love story, the shadowy character created by one brilliant novelist becomes fully realized in the hands of another.

From award-winning director Brendan Maher (The Road from Coorain), Wide Sargasso Sea features rising young stars Rafe Spall (A Room with a View, The Chatterley Affair, Shaun of the Dead) and Rebecca Hall (The Prestige).

The drama aired in the U.K. in October 2006 and is available to U.S. audiences for the first time.

Special Features: Biography of Jean Rhys and cast filmographies.

Headquartered in suburban Washington, D.C., Acorn Media distributes distinctive home video releases to the North American market with a special focus on the best of British television. Acorn’s DVD sets are available from select retailers, catalog companies, and direct from Acorn Media at (888) 870-8047 or www.acornonline.com.