Rivers Of London What To Expect From The Tv Adaptation

Last week, the news broke that the Rivers of London series of urban fantasy novels are to be adapted into a television series. This follows a 2013 attempt to adapt the series by Feel Films, which fell through, and a 2019 project helmed by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s Stolen Picture production company that also failed to see the light of day. Now, a three-way partnership between Pure Fiction, See-Saw Films (State of the Union, The King’s Speech), and Unnecessary Logo has been announced.

Although details such as casting, directorial duties, and release date have yet to be confirmed, this looks like the best chance yet for Rivers of London to finally get adapted for the small screen. So, what lies in store for DC Peter Grant? Here’s what to expect.

A Writer With Roots in the Whoniverse

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If you’re a Doctor Who fan, there’s a good chance that the name of Rivers of London’s creator, Ben Aaronovitch, rings a bell. Aaronovitch was a key figure in the adventures of the Doctor, not during the more recent David Tennant or Matt Smith eras, but in the 1980s, during the tenure of Seventh Doctor – and soon-to-be star of the remake of The Munsters – Sylvester McCoy.

After multiple misfires during the run of Sixth Doctor Colin Baker, as well as an eighteen-month hiatus at the behest of the Doctor Who-hating BBC executive Michael Grade, by the time McCoy took over the reins in 1987, audience figures had slumped. New script editor Andrew Cartmel brought in fresh blood, commissioning scripts from a number of up-and-coming writers, of whom Aaronovitch was one.

Aaronovitch responded with two of the most well-regarded serials of the 1963-89 era. Battlefield (1989) offered an ambitious and complex drama centered on King Arthur mythology. It featured a return of fan-favorite the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) and a scene-stealing performance by Emmy winner Jean Marsh (The Changeling, Willow) as Morgaine, the priestess of Arthurian legend.

But it was the show’s 25th anniversary serial Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) that chimed with viewers. 1980s Doctor Who had become increasingly self-reflexive, but Remembrance took the exploration of the show’s own mythos to a new level, not only reintroducing an old enemy in the Daleks but also going back to the show’s in-universe roots – the Coal Hill School in the suburban London of 1963.

Such scenes as the Doctor’s tomboy companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) bashing a Dalek to pieces with a baseball bat have gone done in Doctor Who fandom as among the show’s most memorable. Aaronovitch went on to pen several Doctor Who novels, and his working relationship with Cartmel also proved enduring, with the two collaborating on several Rivers of London graphic novels.

Rivers of London Is an Urban Fantasy Meets Detective Procedural

     Gollancz  

Aaronovitch’s impressive background in genre fiction found expression in the Rivers of London series of novels. The eponymous first installment was published in 2011 and recounted the experiences of Peter Grant, a junior police officer in London’s Metropolitan Police Force. After a meeting with a ghost, he is co-opted into the force’s division for investigating supernatural phenomena.

Rivers of London was excellently reviewed on both sides of the Atlantic. The book served as the catalyst for a whole universe of other-worldly adventures, as well as a number of short stories, novellas, and graphic novels. The series has sold an estimated five million copies worldwide and has been translated into fourteen languages.

Rivers of London TV Series

No casting or directing details have yet been announced for the series. As the founder of co-producing company Unnecessary Logo, Aaronovitch is expected to exert a significant amount of creative control over the production. Moreover, with an abundance of source material already written, as the list of full-length novels currently stands at nine. The most recent, Amongst Our Weapons, was released in April to positive reviews, and the “Body Works” sequence of graphic novels has also won plaudits. The makers of the adaptation will hardly be short of inspiration.

Top of fans’ hit lists will be Moon Over Soho, the second novel in the sequence, which features (among other things) a disembodied head and the mysterious deaths of a number of musicians in London’s jazz clubs shortly after they perform. The novel also sees the debut of Abigail Kamara, Grant’s feisty cousin, whose backstory was explored in last year’s novella What Abigail Did That Summer.

Meanwhile, The Hanging Tree (2016) makes hay with another familiar trope of the fantasy genre: the idea that Sir Isaac Newton – who in reality dabbled in spurious areas of “scientific” inquiry such as alchemy – was, in fact, the founder of modern magic.

Aaronovitch’s remarkable capacity to meld elements of disparate genres into a coherent whole certainly makes for compelling fiction; we look forward to seeing how Peter Grant’s adventures turn out on the small screen.