TV rights buy for S J Parris

Urban Myth Films has acquired television rights to a series of novels by S J Parris starring 16th century spy and heretic Giordano Bruno. The series will be called "Heresy".

Luke Speed at Curtis Brown brokered the deal on the eve of publication of the latest book in the series Conspiracy which was published by HarperCollins in hardback on 5th May.

Urban Myth Films was set up in 2013 by International Emmy award-winning producers Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy, and BAFTA award-winning writer Howard Overman. Their first commission was "Atlantis" for BBC1.

Capps said: "We are thrilled to have acquired the rights to S J Parris’s fantastic Giordano Bruno series. They are warm and gripping thrillers packed with murder, espionage and more importantly, a raft of fantastic characters – not least the brilliantly quirky anti-hero Bruno. We believe the books have the potential to become a highly original, long running television series and can’t wait to bring them to life."

S J Parris is the pseudonym of Stephanie Merritt, who has worked as a critic and feature writer for a variety of newspapers and magazines as well as radio and television. She currently writes for the Observer, and reviews for BBC Radio 4.

The Giordiano Bruno series consists of Heresy, Prophesy, Sacrilege, Treachery and Conspiracy.