Magic Light options Rachel Ward teen series

Magic Light Pictures has optioned Rachel Ward’s Numbers trilogy, published by Chicken House, to develop a TV series.

The production company’s joint m.d. Martin Pope signed the deal with Chicken House Entertainment, which manages the media rights business at Chicken House.

Pope said: “Numbers is an amazing book series with warmth, compassion and a brilliant concept at its heart. We’re delighted to be working with Chicken House in developing this as a drama series which can reach out to worldwide audiences."

The series is about 15-year-old Jem, who, when her eyes meet someone else’s, knows the date when they will die. She meets a boy called Spider and they plan a trip to London, but when everyone in the queue for the London Eye is showing the same date, Jem realises something terrible is going to happen.

Magic Light is known for its adaptations of books for younger children and has created TV shows based on Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes (Penguin Random House Children’s) and The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Macmillan Children’s Books). The company is currently producing an adaptation of Zog, also by Donaldson and Scheffler (Alison Green Books/Scholastic), scheduled to air on BBC One this Christmas, and has optioned Scheffler’s Pip and Posy series, published by Nosy Crow.