Just a quick post to let everyone know that the DVD of The Runaway recently shown on Sky 1 is out now!!

As I reported back in August of last year The Runaway was being adapted for television and there was not much to report other than the fact it was going to happen.

News on the production went very quiet soon after the announcement and there were rumours that Martina Cole may have not been happy with parts of the adaptation.

However I am now pleased to have found out that filming is going ahead. The production will be handled by Company Pictures who previously were responsible for The Take which aired last year.

Filming is taking place in South Africa and Alan Cumming, Burn Gorman, Jack O’Connell, Jo Van Der Ham and Max Irons are some of the cast known at the moment.

The drama will air as a six part mini-series on Sky1 in the Spring 2011.

UPDATE: Martina Cole’s The Runaway starts 31st March Sky1 9pm, excellent news!!

UPDATE: There has been huge interest in who is signing the cover version of Love Will Tear Us Apart on the Sky1 promotion trailer for the upcoming mini-series. The singer of Love Will Tear Us Apart is Charlotte Kelly. Sky will not be releasing it as a single though. The original version of the song was by the excellent Joy Division.

DVD out NOW!!

Martina Cole failed to take the ITV Bestseller Dagger Award last night, 21st October 2009, at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

American author Harlan Coben took the award for favourite crime author beating popular authors Dick Francis, Alexander McCall Smith, Nicci French and, of course, Martina Cole. The Dagger Award winner was selected by the British public after an online poll which lasted six weeks. The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2009 event will be televised on ITV3 on Tuesday, 27th October at 9pm.

Harlan Coben currently has 16 bestsellers under his belt and 47 millions books in print worldwide. His latest novels Long Lost and Hold Tight both debuted at number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world. Harlan already has another book in the pipeline, Caught, which will be available in early spring 2010.

Harlan, who had travelled to the Awards ceremony from his home in New Jersey with his 10-year-old son, said:

“It’s a real thrill. The only time I’d have expected to be on a list with those four names is in a restaurant, so it’s just sort of stunning … Maybe there’s a little more love for me in the UK [than there is in the US].”

I have been a fan of Harlan Coben for sometime and if you have not seen the French language film Tell No One from the book of the same name I urge you to read the book then watch the film, both are very entertaining.

So bad luck Martina but I’m sure the imminent release of your latest novel Hard Girls will more than make up for missing out on the award. Better luck next year!

There is more information and pictures from the event on the The Daily Mail, The Evening Standard and The Guardian, enjoy.

Other winners:

The best crime novel of the year went to William Brodrick who won the CWA Gold Dagger 2009, sponsored by BooksDirect, for A Whispered Name (Little, Brown).

The year’s best thriller was The Last Child by John Hart (John Murray), which won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2009, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.

Johan Theorin’s Echoes From The Dead (Doubleday) won the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 2009, sponsored by Louise Penny and Michael Whitehead, as a first book by a previously unpublished writer, awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey.

Colin Dexter, Lynda La Plante, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid collected trophies to commemorate their inaguration into the Hall of Fame.

HBO’s “The Wire” picked up two gongs, as best drama and its star Dominic West as the best actor. Juliet Stevenson won the best actress dagger.

In conjunction with Sky1 Martina Cole will be restarting the hunt for the grave of the only Moors victim whose grave has not been found, Keith Bennett.

The two part series will be called The Search With Martina Cole.

Martina Cole hopes to increase pressure on the police to reopen the case after Greater Manchester Police closed the case on 1 July 2009.

Full story can be found over at Broadcastnow.

Update on September 19th 2009

It has now been reported that Sky1 will not now go forward with the documentary. This is due to the victim’s mother, Winifred Johnson confirming she was not prepared to take part.

A Sky 1 spokeswoman said: “The goal of this programme was to help Winifred Johnson conclude the search for her son, Keith Bennett. However, Mrs Johnson has made it clear that she prefers to pursue that search separately. There was never any question of going ahead without her full support, so we decided immediately to end the project.”

Full update can be found over at Broadcastnow.

It’s official. Martina Cole novel The Runaway is to be the second TV dramatisation by Sky1.

Hot on the heels of the recent dramatisation of The Take it has been announced that The Runaway is being adapted for television. Good news for the fans and something to look forward to in these days of poor television programming. The production will be handled by Company Pictures who are one of the U.K.’s largest independent television drama and film production companies. Company Pictures were also responsible for producing The Take which aired recently.

The story of Cathy Connor and Eamonn Docherty will be great to watch and the setting of 60′s and 70′s Soho will make for an interesting backdrop. I liked this book and will be keen to see how much detail is kept in the dramatisation. I’m assuming it will follow The Take in its broadcasting format of a mini-series.

More news as and when I find it will be posted here so watch this space.

DVD out NOW !!

Over on indieLondon Tom Hardy gives an interview on his role in the recent dramatisation of the Martina Cole novel The Take.

TOM Hardy came out of drama school and straight into HBO’s Band of Brothers, followed by Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down. He’s been working ever since – always pushing himself as is evident in his most recent role: Bronson.

He talks to us about his character in Sky1’s The Take, which could be the nastiest piece of work he’s ever played.

Whizz over to indieLondon for the full article on this fine actor. We’re sure we will be seeing a lot more of Tom Hardy on the small and big screen very soon.

The dramatisation of the Martina Cole novel The Take aired on Sky1 recently as a 4 part mini series. Sky1 still have the micro-site in place if you missed it or want some more information on the story and lead characters.

We watched and we were impressed. The grittiness of the characters, their surroundings and outright nastiness really came across. The lead role of Freddie Jackson, we thought, was outstanding, Tom Hardy was the quintessential Martina Cole bad lad and very scary with it. Incidentally you can also see Tom Hardy playing another bad lad on the big screen, Bronson, which we have seen and can thoroughly recommend.

Watching Jimmy Jackson grow in confidence over the 4 nights was great and even if you have read the book it was still a pleasure to watch Jimmy work his way up through the ranks and become more like Freddie day by day.

The downtrodden women, that are always central to a Martina Cole novel, were played very well. Poor Maggie Summers, you knew Freddie would get her, his way, at some point and it was very well done. As for Jackie Jackson and her terrible life with Freddie, the subject was covered well and we really felt for her. The subject matter of a childs death was handled sympathetically but at the same time showing just how cold the characters could be.

The only minus point for us is that we would have liked to see a little more of Patricia’s storyline as her involvement felt a bit hurried.

The publicity trailer, in case you missed it:

Click here to view the embedded video.

All in all we thought this was an excellent dramatisation, what about you?

The Croydon Guardian commented last week on Martina Cole’s new television documentary Martina Cole: Girls in Gangs.

The article highlights that girl gangs are just as vicious and violent as boy gangs.

In the programme, Martina Cole visited Croydon to speak to three girls that used to be involved in a girl gang. The girls painted a picture about the reality of life in the borough for youths.

What do you think? Read the article and have your say below.