Barron's BeaglePug banner has teamed with Enriched Media on the project, which will mark both companies' first foray into long-form TV.
London-based production companies BeaglePug, founded by veteran Harry Potter producer David Barron, and Enriched Media Group have secured all TV, film and ancillary rights to the award-winning novel A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott.
The historical thriller starts with a murder in WWII France and unfurls its mysteries into the present day with a brilliant but haunted female detective as the lead. The partners are currently in active discussions in both the U.K. and U.S. for the TV rights. A Treachery of Spies is the second of Scott’s espionage thrillers to feature Detective Inspector Inès Picaut and the first to be adapted.
"Seeing the impact of the crime through the eyes of Inès, an ordinary woman with unique skills, only highlights how extraordinary the events were," said Barron, who produced six Harry Potter films, as well as films such as Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Hamlet, Disney's Cinderella, Legend of Tarzan, Mowgli and Escape From Pretoria. "I’m thrilled to be adapting this wholly distinctive piece of European IP for the global market."
The Enriched Media Group principals are executive producers and financiers on Paul Schrader's First Reformed. They previously partnered with BeaglePug on the recent feature Escape From Pretoria, starring Daniel Radcliffe.
"During these increasingly challenging and difficult times, we’re more aware than ever of the importance of innovative storytelling," added Enriched Media Group’ producer and co-founder Mick Southworth. "Manda Scott’s painstaking and thorough research has enabled her to create a gripping, thrill-packed drama with a unique female protagonist solving a crime through two distinct historical periods and takes a close look at a world not dissimilar from our own through the history, the players, the victories and the spoils."
A Treachery of Spies, part of a trilogy, was published by Transworld Publishers, a division of Penguin Random House, in 2018 and won the prestigious McIlvanney Prize for best crime novel in 2019.
The project represents both companies' first foray into long-form TV drama.
