Freedom Scripted to adapt Sebastian Faulks’ murder mystery ‘Engleby’

(Source: Freedom Scripted)

Glasgow-based indie Freedom Scripted has acquired the rights to adapt Engleby, the 2007 murder mystery novel by author Sebastian Faulks.

Ryan Craig (Filthy Business, Our Class) and Jess Ruston (Geek Girl, Harlots) will write the six-part drama, which is directed by Michael Keillor (Best Interests, Lockerbie) and executive produced by Freedom Scripted MD Mike Ellen.

Noah Jupe (The Undoing, The Night Manager) will star in the titular role of Mike Engleby, an enigmatic outsider who graduates from 1970s campus life to 1980s Fleet Street and beyond – haunted all the while by an unsolved mystery involving a friend and fellow student during their university days.

“True Crime can be compelling, but also at times exploitative and misleading. In Engleby which sprung from the brilliant mind of Sebastian Faulks, we tackle the reliability or otherwise of narration, and ultimately ‘make it up to tell the truth’ about a tragic set of very real feeling, fictional events,” said Ellen.

“Ryan and Jess are working with a respected forensic psychiatrist to make sure we get things right, as well as produce a highly bingeable drama.”

Founded in 2018 by former BBC, STV and World Productions development producer Mike Ellen, Freedom Scripted secured investment from the Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund in 2022, allowing the team to take on further hires and expand the business.

In 2023, the company further expanded opening offices in London and Berlin.