Friday 8 July 2022

RIVERS OF LONDON re-optioned for television

A fresh attempt is underway to bring Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London fantasy book series to the screen.


Two previous attempts was made to develop a series based on the books. The Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell team got as far as writing scripts before their attempt was shut down, and in 2019 Simon Pegg and Nick Frost optioned the rights for a deal before COVID delayed the process.

This latest attempt is a collaboration between Pure Fiction Television and See-Saw Films, with Aaronovitch's own production company Unnecessary Logo also involved. The option includes all nine Rivers of London books published so far and the associated short stories, novellas and graphic novels.

Unlike prior attempts, Aaronovitch himself will be more closely involved with this adaptation and will write the scripts for the first season. Aaronovitch has experience in this area, having previously penned two Doctor Who serials in the 1980s (Remembrance of the Daleks and Battlefield) as well as episodes of Casualty, Jupiter Moon and Dark Knight.

It should be noted that this is so far an option and development order, and no broadcaster or streamer is involved at this time.

The series to date consists of:

Novels
Rivers of London (2011)
Moon Over Soho (2012)
Whispers Under Ground (2012)
Broken Homes (2013)
Foxglove Summer (2014)
The Hanging Tree (2016)
Lies Sleeping (2018)
False Value (2020)
Amongst Our Weapons (2022)

Graphic Novels
Body Work (2016)
Night Witch (2016)
Black Mould (2017)
Detective Stories (2017)
Cry Fox (2018)
Water Weed (2018)
Action at A Distance (2019)
The Fey and The Furious (2020)
Monday, Monday (2021)

Novellas
The Furthest Station (2017)
The October Man (2019)
What Abigail Did That Summer (2021)

Short Stories
Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection (2020)

No comments: