STV secures Elizabeth is Missing TV Rights

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STV Productions has secured the television rights to the bestselling novel Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey.

Elizabeth Is Missing is being developed by STV Productions as a three part series for TV. This is one of the projects STV Productions’ new head of drama, Sarah Brown, will develop when she takes up her role in the autumn.

Emma Healey’s debut novel has been met with critical acclaim and went straight to the Sunday Times Bestseller list on publication. STV Productions has engaged award-winning writer Andrea Gibb to develop the script. Gibb’s recent work includes feature films Swallows and Amazons and Music and Silence for BBC Films.

“Elizabeth Is Missingis a dramatist’s dream. It has everything; a great premise, a compelling mystery, an unusual and engaging heroine and is both funny and very moving.  

 

“‘It is also about something very important. Dementia is a time bomb. According to the Alzheimer’s Society, two thirds of people with dementia are women and by 2021 there will be a million people with it in the UK. It’s not an inevitable disease of old age but a disease of the brain which affects not just the person suffering from it but their entire family. Emma handles this difficult issue with sensitivity and humanity, while never losing sight that she’s telling a fantastic story. I’m thrilled to have been asked to work on it.” – Andrea Gibb

Elizabeth Is Missing details the story of Maud and her compelling quest to find her missing best friend whilst battling with dementia. As her grasp on the present day diminishes memories of her childhood resurface and she begins to relive another disappearance, that of her sister Sukey. It is a race against her own mind to unpick the disappearances of Elizabeth and Sukey and the link which binds them together.

“Elizabeth Is Missing was one of the most talked about titles at last year’s London Book Fair and was published in the UK by Penguin after a competitive bidding war. The story promises to be a unique and unforgettable piece of television and we’re thrilled to be working with Andrea Gibb to bring this incredible book to the screen.” – Alan Clements, Director of Content at STV Productions.

STV is the ITV broadcaster for Scotland covering two regions, STV North and STV Central.