Zodiak Kids in Co-Development Deal for Detective Series

Zodiak Kids Studios has entered into a co-development deal with Asner Productions to develop a live-action series based on the book series The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency.

Targeted for 8- to 12-year-olds, the series sees history, mystery, science and unlikely friendship collide in an alternate 19th-century London, where teens Ada Lovelace (the world’s first computer programmer) and Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) meet and form a detective agency–a secret constabulary for the apprehension of clever criminals.

The first book from The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency was published by Penguin Random House in 2015. There are now four books across the series, from author Jordan Stratford.

The executive producer for the series will be Steven Andrew, creative director at Zodiak Kids.

Andrew commented: “We are delighted to be working with Anne-Marie to bring to life this wonderfully inventive and imaginative retelling of these two remarkable young women. Zodiak Kids has brought many entertaining and thought-provoking live-action drama series to children worldwide, such as BAFTA-winning Joe All Alone, Secret Life of Boys and Millie Inbetween (CBBC) and The Lodge (Disney), and we are looking forward to bringing The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency into our portfolio.”

Anne-Marie Asner, founder of Asner Productions, added: “I was drawn to the Wollstonecraft series because of its contemporary feel applied to a period piece for kids. I believe its unstoppable science and literary odd couple girl leads alongside its use of real historic figures, like Ada Lovelace, Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens, will be aspirational role models for viewers. And who wouldn’t want to spend time with brilliant, eccentric and unintentionally funny Ada or feel calmed knowing that savvy, well-mannered and well-read Mary could smooth any social calamity? Wollstonecraft’s Ada and Mary are who many of us would like to be or at least have as our best buddies.”