Chris Chibnall’s Imaginary Friends to co-produce series with Red Planet Pictures
Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall is to adapt his upcoming debut novel for ITV.
Death at the White Hart is to be co-produced by Chibnall’s indie Imaginary Friends Productions – which made hit crime drama Broadchurch – and Death In Paradise indie Red Planet Pictures. Red Planet Pictures secured the deal after beating out multiple offers for the novel’s rights from international indies and buyers.
Like Broadchurch, the series will be set in a Dorset village, where the pub landlord is found murdered and local detective Nicola Bridge is called on to find the killer. The upcoming novel on which it is based is the first of a two-book deal in the UK and US.
Red Planet Pictures’ Belinda Campbell will exec produce alongside Chibnall, with production set to begin next year. The ITV1 and STV series was ordered by ITV head of drama Polly Hill and managing director of media and entertainment Kevin Lygo.
Chibnall, whose Netflix adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Seven Dials Mystery is also upcoming, said: “Polly’s dynamic vote of confidence in Death At The White Hart made it a no-brainer to bring the novel to the screen with ITV.
“Within this cliffhanger-packed murder mystery sits a specifically British story about how people live their lives right now. There’s no better home for it than ITV.”
Hill called it a “perfect partnership” and said the series would follow a “very British murder”, while Campbell added: “Death at The White Hart is a finely crafted and epically executed story with a host of unforgettable characters and story twists.”
The deal rights were handled by Red Planet’s Alex Jones with Raffaella De Angelis spearheading the literary acquisition for Fremantle, which recently acquired Red Planet.
Chibnall is represented by Cathy King and Eugenie Furniss at 42.
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