Stuart to adapt Shuggie Bain for BBC television series

Douglas Stuart is adapting his Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain (Picador) for a BBC television series, produced by A24.

The adaptation will "expand" on the novel, and promises to bring "new threads to the story".

Set during the 1980s, Shuggie Bain focuses on a mother-son relationship in working-class Glasgow. Shuggie’s mother Agnes – a luminous, glamorous star she has always believed herself to be – dreams of a house with its own front door, ordering a little happiness on credit. Agnes finds increasing solace in drink, and she drains away the lion’s share of each week’s benefits – all the family has to live on. To Shuggie, an effeminate boy who struggles to fit in, Agnes is his guiding light. He cares for her as she battles with alcoholism while he struggles to become the normal boy he desperately longs to be.

Stuart said: "I am deeply grateful to the BBC and A24 for their belief in Shuggie Bain. I’m thrilled to bring the Bain family to the screen and the opportunity to expand on my novel and to bring new threads to the story, exploring hardships and struggles as well as the compassion, humour, and resilience that is so central to the Scottish spirit."

Gaynor Holmes, commissioning editor for BBC Drama, added: “Shuggie Bain is an extraordinary novel, with all the makings of extraordinary television. It’s a real honour to be working with the immensely talented Douglas Stuart to bring his vision to the BBC.”

Shuggie Bain is Stuart’s debut novel, inspired by his own childhood in Thatcher-years Glasgow. It won the Booker Prize in 2020 and became an international bestseller, sold in 39 countries.

Filming will take place in Scotland and further details will be announced in due course.