Maitlis' Airhead to become TV drama

"Newsnight" broadcaster Emily Maitlis' book Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making News (Michael Joseph) will be adapted into a TV series to give viewers a glimpse of  “what making news is really like.”

Working Title TV acquired global rights for film and TV to Airhead in a deal brokered by Eugenie Furniss at 42MP. The series will be a scripted comedy drama.

Rowland White at Penguin imprint Michael Joseph signed world rights for the book earlier this year. Airhead, published in April in hardback, will be released in paperback on Thursday 17th October.

The publisher explained: “Making sense of some of the most memorable world events in recent years, and the stand-out moments of her career, Emily gives a real sense of what making the news is really like. How things often come together very last minute, before that seamless and controlled ‘go live’ moment, leaving the viewing blissfully unaware of what has gone before.”

During her career Maitlis has interviewed high-profile subjects, including the Dalai Lama, Donald Trump, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and Facebook c.o.o. Sheryl Sandberg. Working Title TV has produced TV shows “The Tudors”, “Randall and Hopkirk” and most recently “Hanna”.

The paperback of Airhead is published by Penguin this week.