As this book approaches release, it can be revealed that an option has been taken to produce a theatrical film.
The director will be Justin Hardy; the screenplay writer, Tina Pepler. In November 2010 they will be on Nevis with the author, June Goodfield, for a major reconnaissance trip. The team will visit the main locations, meet many of the characters, and work on the screen play which will be completed in January 2011.
The research and development costs have been met by many personal and commercial friends and supporters on Nevis and in the UK, and their commitment will be widely recognised in all future publicity.
A film cannot, of course, follow a book exactly. The challenge is to extract, from 400 years of history and 20 of research, three or four themes that our main actress can develop throughout some two hours of running time. The actress, who they all think would be ideal, has been already approached. However, all we can say at the moment is 'please watch this space'!
The team
June Goodfield
See About the author.
Justin Hardy
Justin is a specialist director of historical films – not just period adaptations, but films rooted in the real sources of real lives in the past. His films – including The Relief of Belsen, City of Vice, The Last Dragon, A Harlots Progress and The Forgotten Fallen – have won and been nominated for over a dozen BAFTAs, Emmys, Royal Television Society awards, Griersons, Broadcasts and Writers Guilds prizes. Having made films that cover every century in British history, Justin is looking to international stories for his next inspiration, not least the colonisation of the West Indies. He has worked with many international stars: Sir Christopher Lee, Sir Ian Holm, Robert Hardy, Toby Jones, Ian McDiarmid, Iain Glen, Corin Redgrave, Jemma Redgrave, Geraldine James and Sir John Mills.
Tina Pepler
Tina has had television dramas broadcast on BBC1, Channel 4, and ITV. She worked with Justin Hardy on Princes in the Tower, a film for Channel 4 television, starring Mark Umbers who is currently appearing in the West End with Tamsin Outhwaite. She was co-writer with Julian Fellowes on several episodes of Most Mysterious Murders (BBC 1), and more recently on episode six of the much-praised and hugely popular Downton Abbey (ITV), starring Dame Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville. Tina has also written extensively for BBC radio – original plays, dramatisations, and drama-docs variously on Radio 4, Radio 3 and the World Service. Her radio work has been nominated for a number of awards (Sony, Grierson, Morishige) and Song of the Forest – winner of the Giles Cooper Award and published by Methuen – is taught as a core text in a number of Universities.
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