EXCLUSIVE: The production outfit behind Slow Horses has made Jackson Lamb a household name and now it is seeking to do the same for rogueish antiques dealer Lovejoy.
Following a bidding war, See-Saw Films has landed the rights to adapt the Lovejoy detective novels for TV, which were made into a popular BBC series in the late 1980s and early 1990s starring Ian McShane.
Lovejoy will be more than familiar to fans of British detective television. Adapted by Ian La Frenais, the BBC show ran for eight years, totaling 70 episodes, and made a star of McShane, who played the eponymous lead. No word yet on whether McShane is returning for the remake, which isn’t yet attached to a network or streamer. The show also starred Chris Jury, Dudley Sutton, Phyllis Logan and Celia Imrie.
Set in East Anglia, Lovejoy is about a charismatic antiques dealer with an almost mystical knack for spotting genuine artefacts and scams. He frequently pivots from dealer to detective, outmanoeuvring rivals, criminals and occasionally the police. He has more than a thing or two in common with Slow Horses lead Lamb, played with aplomb by Gary Oldman across five seasons for Apple TV.
Published under the nom de plume Jonathan Gash, Lovejoy is a set of 24 books from Dr John Grant. They published between 1977 and 2008, featuring titles including The Judas Pair, The Grail Tree and, most recently, Faces in the Pool.
See-Saw wants to create a “contemporary reimagining of the Lovejoy novels that will strip away the nostalgia of the 1980s adaptation and return to the unrulier spirit of the books,” it said. The indie described the bidding war for the novels as “competitive” and we understand it took place last year.
Grant’s agent Lisa Moylett said: “Jonathan Gash created an extraordinarily vivid and complex Lovejoy. A morally ambiguous, often unpleasant anti-hero brought to life through taut prose and page-turning stories steeped in the shadowy world of antiques. It was essential that any new adaptation kept the books front and centre. See-Saw’s bold, assured vision, led by Lisa Gilchrist and Helen Gregory, demonstrated exactly how to preserve the books’ wit and grit while reimagining them for today’s audience.”
EPs for Mediawan-owned See-Saw, which has TV credits including Slow Horses, Heartstopper and Sweetpea, are Lisa Gilchrist, Helen Gregory, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Simon Gillis. Joining them will be Moylett and Grant.
The deal was negotiated by Simon Gillis and Laura Mazzola, Head of Business & Legal Affairs (UK), on behalf of See-Saw and Sheila David of Catapult Rights Limited on behalf of Dr Grant.
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