Romola Garai, Siobhan Finneran and Liv Hill are among those taking leading roles in a new series of monologues written by women and starring only women to mark 100 years of suffrage.

BBC Four’s Snatches: Moments From 100 Years of Woman’s Lives series will include eight 15-minute monologues inspired by women who have spoken out, challenged the status quo or made a stand, often at great personal cost.

Curated by Royal Court artistic director Vicky Featherstone, in association with the Royal Court Theatre, the films will be directed by Vanessa Caswill and Rachna Suri, and have been penned by some of Britain’s most celebrated female writers.

Bafta-winning playwright Abi Morgan, who wrote the film Suffragette, Anita and Me’s Tanika Gupta and Spooks writer Zinnie Harris are among those who have written the short films.

Atonement actress Garai will appear in a film called Compliance, written by Morgan, about an actress’s experience meeting a producer.

Downton Abbey’s Finneran will appear in Harris’s Multiples, which looks at the experience of a woman accused of killing her child, whose testimony is not believed.

Hill, nominated for a best supporting actress TV Bafta for her role in Rochdale sexual exploitation drama Three Girls, is to take on the role in Reclaim The Night, written by playwright Charlene James.

The short will capture the moment in the experience of a 19-year-old black woman in Leeds in 1977.

Also starring in the eight films are Jodie Comer (My Mad Fat Diary), Shirley Henderson (Bridget Jones), Corinne Skinner-Carter (EastEnders), Kiran Sonia Sawar (Black Mirror) and Antonia Thomas (Misfits).

Vicky FeatherstoneRoyal Court Theatre’s Vicky Featherstone (Johan Persson/PA)

Featherstone said: “The Royal Court is delighted to be teaming up with BBC Four to bring eight untold stories about ordinary women who do the extraordinary, to our screens.

“The wonderful range of writers, actors and filmmakers involved represent only the tip of the iceberg of talent, provocation and idea. We have come quite a long way in 100 years, but these pieces explode with the proof that we still have a lot further to go.”

The Snatches episodes will air this summer as part of the BBC’s Hear Her season, marking the centenary of women being able to vote in the UK.