Stroud's Lockwood & Co. to become TV series

Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. series will be adapted for television by the team behind Hollywood film “Baby Driver”.

Lockwood & Co. launched in 2013 and sold to 24 countries around the world. It is set in an alternative London which hosts “an epidemic of spooks and ghouls” and will be adapted for the small screen by London-based production company, Big Talk, which also produced “Cold Feet” and “Rev”.

The series’ publisher, Penguin Random House, said it was “thrilled” with news of the adaptation. The fifth and final instalment of the series, The Empty Grave, will be published by PRH imprint Corgi on 21st September.

The deal was brokered by Charlotte Knight of the Knight Hall Agency Ltd on behalf of Laura Cecil Literary Agency.

Francesca Dow, PRH’s m.d, said: “We are thrilled that the fantastic Lockwood & Co. series has been optioned for TV adaptation. Jonathan’s writing is so cinematic and atmospheric I’m sure his books will adapt brilliantly to the screen, delighting his many fans and bringing these wonderful stories to an even wider audience.”

Stroud said he was “hopping with delight”.

He said: “I’ve loved so many of [Big Talk’s] movies and shows over the years – their unique sensibility blends comedy, adventure and horror beautifully, and is in perfect synthesis with Lockwood’s world. I can’t wait for us to take up our rapiers, salt bombs and iron chains and get to work.”