TORONTO – A miniseries based on Margaret Atwood’s novel “Alias Grace” will screen on CBC and Netflix.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sarah Polley is writing and producing the six-hour project, which will begin shooting in Ontario in August. Mary Harron will direct.

The story is inspired by the real-life murder case involving Grace Marks, an Irish immigrant and maid in Upper Canada.

She and stable hand James McDermott were convicted of the murders of their employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery, in 1843.

McDermott was hanged while Marks was sentenced to life imprisonment. After 30 years in jail, she was exonerated.

Polley says in a statement that she first read “Alias Grace” when she was 17 years old and has read it many times over the last 20 years.

“Grace Marks, as captured by Margaret Atwood, is the most complex, riveting character I have ever read,” she says. “I’m thrilled that Mary Harron has taken the project on.

“I know that her ability to create suspense, tension, and delve into the dark, unknowable aspects of her characters will bring this piece alive. I can’t wait for us to bring the many versions of Grace’s gripping story, and the questions they raise, to television audiences.”