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Channel 4 has acquired UK rights for Hulu’s retelling of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

The series is the story of life in the dystopian Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birth rate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s (Joseph Fiennes) household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life, Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead –  with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.

Jay Hunt, Channel 4’s Chief Creative Officer said: “The Handmaid’s Tale is a chilling and frighteningly topical exploration of a world where women are subjugated.  I’m delighted that Channel 4 viewers will get to see this critically-acclaimed take on a classic novel.”