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Whitehouse's non-fiction debut bagged for TV deal
About A Son, the non-fiction debut from David Whitehouse about a murder in his home town of Nuneaton, has been snapped up by Phoenix Books and will be developed for TV by Tannadice Pictures.
UK and Commonwealth rights to the book were acquired by Francesca Main at Phoenix from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown. About A Son: A Murder and a Father’s Search for Truth will be the first non-fiction launch from the recently launched Orion imprint Phoenix Books. It will be published in hardback as a lead title in April 2022.
The option for television rights was bought by Neil Forsyth, writer and creator of the BBC’s “Guilt”, along with Ben Farrell at Tannadice Pictures, from Summerhayes.
About A Son was inspired by the diaries of Colin Hehir, whose 20-year-old son Morgan was murdered in a brutal unprovoked knife attack when walking through a local park on the way to a night out with friends in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Phoenix said: “From the moment his world turned upside-down, Colin began to keep an extraordinary record of his grief, the ensuing trial of Morgan’s killers and his personal fight to reveal the truth behind the lies, mistakes and cover-ups that led to a young man with a history of violence being free to take Morgan’s life that night.
“Blending memoir, reportage and true crime, About A Son is a unique and deeply moving exploration of grief and the restless pursuit of justice, exposing the culture and systemic failures that enabled a murder that should never have taken place, and asking what justice means if the truth is not heard.”
Whitehouse is a journalist, screenwriter and the award-winning author of three novels: Bed, Mobile Library and The Long Forgotten (all published by Picador).
Main said: “This book is unlike anything David Whitehouse has written before and unlike anything else I have read. It’s the story of a family and the story of a murder, one that explores the profound impact of loss, a series of tragedies in a town not often written about, and the devastating repercussions when the systems designed to protect us fail us instead. It’s told with astonishing creativity and power but most importantly with deep compassion for its subject – a talented, funny and much-loved young man who was taken from the world far too soon but who still made his mark upon it.”
David Whitehouse said: “This book is about him and exists only because of his father Colin’s honesty and openness in allowing me to write it. I hope it shows people what a brilliant young man Morgan Hehir was, what a loss his death is, and how proud of him his wonderful family are right to be”
Hehir said: “There is no such thing as a perfect family. We had our version - mum, dad and our three boys. That Halloween night our lives changed forever. After the court case, we stood on the steps outside. Another young man murdered with a knife, and us the faceless victims picking up the pieces. This is a story about how five became four, a story that needs to be told.”
Forsythe and Farrell said of the plans for the TV adaptation: “Tannadice Pictures are proud to be working with David Whitehouse on his television adaptation of About A Son, which is currently in development. Colin Hehir’s desperately moving and important story deserves to be told to the widest possible audience, and David is the perfect writer to bring it to the screen.”
