Playground Secures Two New Book Adaptations

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LONDON: Colin Callender’s Playground has acquired the rights to adapt the novel The Widow by Fiona Barton and the nonfiction biography Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories by Thomas Grant.

“We bought both of these books at manuscript stage and it is great to see them find such a wide readership,” said Louise Pedersen, managing director of Playground UK. “We are confident that both titles will make compelling television adaptations.”

Sophie Gardiner, creative director of Playground UK, added, “Though one book is fiction and the other is nonfiction, both books feature striking central characters caught up in stories that speak to the key issues of our time and should appeal to a wide-ranging audience. Both titles are exactly the kind of thought-provoking writing which we are looking to develop.”

Published by Penguin Random House Books, The Widow is a psychological thriller about a woman who stands by her husband as he is accused of kidnapping and murdering a child. When he suddenly dies after being cleared of the crime, both investigators and the media have many unanswered questions. The book, released in January, has sold over 35,000 copies in print and digital in the U.K. Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories, published by John Murray, is a bio of the celebrated barrister, who today is 101 and has been involved in some of the most famous British court cases, including that of the Great Train robber Charlie Wilson.