Enid Blyton fans will be pleased to hear that her popular book series about fictional girls’ boarding school, Malory Towers, is to be developed into a TV show after Enid Blyton Entertainment sold the TV adaption rights to King Bert Productions.
The deal was signed between King Bert Production’s Jo Sargent and Karen Lawler, who is head of licensed content at Enid Blyton Entertainment, a section of the Hachette Children’s Group.
Jo Sargent at King Bert Productions acquired the rights from Karen Lawler, head of licensed content at Enid Blyton Entertainment, which is part of the Hachette Children’s Group. The Group will reissue all 12 books in the Malory Towers series with new covers by Pippa Curnick in June 2019, to coincide with the TV release.
Four new stories are also in the pipeline, with renowned contemporary authors following in Enid Blyton’s giant footsteps. These will incluee Narinder Dhami, Patrice Lawrence, Lucy Mangan and Rebecca Westcott. Each of the stories will be set in the same timeframe and fictional world as the original books, with existing Malory Towers characters – described as – women the world could lean on’ – featuring alongside new faces.
This will not be the first time Enid Blyton stories have been brought alive on the big screen. The Famous Five series was televised in the 70s and again in the 90s, along with a two Danish feature films, two serialised adventures and four German films. There have been at least eight different Noddy TV shows plus two 90s TV series and a movie of The Adventure. The Secret, St Clare’s and The Five Found-Outers have also made it onto TV, while there has been tantalising talk of a film being made about the legendary Folk of the Faraway Tree for several years.
