Alderman's 'The Power' to be TV series

Viking's recently-published title The Power is set to be turned into a long-running, global television series by Sister Pictures, co-producers of ITV's "Broadchurch".

TV rights to Naomi Alderman’s novel, published earlier this autumn by Mary Mount at Viking, were acquired by Jane Featherstone, founder of Sister Pictures, from Georgina Ruffhead at David Higham Associates after an 11-way auction. 

The series will be written by Alderman and developed by Sister’s Katie Carpenter. Jane Featherstone, Naomi de Pear and Naomi Alderman will executive produce the series.

The Power imagines a world where women gain the power to electrocute at will. 

Alderman published three previous novels before The Power. She won the Orange Award for New Writers and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. She is also the co-creator and lead writer of smartphone audio adventure app Zombies, Run! Rachel Weisz is set to produce and star in the upcoming film adaptation of Disobedience, Naomi’s debut novel.

Alderman said: "I'm thrilled to be working with Jane Featherstone and Sister Pictures. Jane's track record, and her commitment to excellence in writing speak for themselves, and Sister Pictures' deep understanding of the book impressed me hugely. Readers of The Power are already asking me if there'll be a sequel - there won't be another novel (probably), but there are definitely so many more stories to tell than I had room for in the book. I can't wait to expand this story - and bring electric women to TV screens around the world."

Featherstone said: "Naomi is one of the boldest and most interesting authors of our time and we are beyond thrilled to be working with her as she adapts her own brilliant and compelling book for television. The Power is a story of our times, clever, funny, important and original, it asks us to consider a world where the shifting balances of power create a new and dangerous dynamic."