ITV commissions four part drama, Our House

ITV commissions four part drama, Our House, adapted by Simon Ashdown from the international best-selling novel and produced by Red Planet Pictures

ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill, has commissioned suspenseful literary thriller, Our House, based upon the captivating best-selling novel from Louise Candlish of the same title. 

The four-part drama will be adapted by screenwriter Simon Ashdown and produced by Red Planet Pictures, with joint managing director, Belinda Campbell as executive producer.

Our House narrates the story of Fiona Lawson who arrives home one day to find strangers moving into her house.  With all her family’s possessions and furniture nowhere to be seen, Fi believes there’s been a huge mistake and insists her home isn’t for sale.  With events spiralling beyond her control, we feel her panic rising as she can’t reach estranged husband, Bram.

As she reflects upon the safe space in which she and her family had made a life together, Fi begins to peel back the layers of her relationship and discovers her husband has also disappeared. With her life shattered, she realises the secrets and lies have only just begun, but her husband isn’t the only one with things to hide……

Commented Polly Hill:

“I’m very excited to have commissioned Our House.  It’s an addictive, suspenseful novel and Simon Ashdown perfectly captures that in his adaptation.  I’m looking forward to working with Belinda and Red Planet once again on bringing this modern and entertaining tale to screen.”

Told in flashback scenes of Fiona and Bram’s life together intertwined with the present, Our House is adapted from the international best-selling novel written by Louise Candlish.  The successful novel, which is published in the UK by Simon & Schuster and in the US by Berkley, Penguin Random House, became a Sunday Times best seller and also won Book of the Year – Crime and Thriller, at the British Book Awards in 2019.

Commented Louise Candlish:

“Some of the most addictive drama I’ve watched in recent years has come from ITV, so it’s an honour and a career highlight to have an adaptation of Our House join such prestigious company. The way Simon and the Red Planet Pictures team have brought Fi and Bram’s hair-raising story to life is absolute genius.”

Award winning writer, Simon Ashdown, is best known for his long-standing work on EastEnders and for co-creating and writing Bafta-nominated Funland.

Commented Simon Ashdown:

“I was gripped by Louise’s brilliant novel from the first page and loved the deft intertwining of edge of your seat thriller and complex exploration of a marriage in free fall.  It’s this balancing act between the two that makes Our House such a compelling story to adapt.”

Red Planet Pictures is the dynamic independent television production company founded by showrunner Tony Jordan.

The indie has become renowned as the home of popular drama with hits including Death in Paradise, Dickensian and the much-loved Austen adaptation Sanditon, by Emmy and BAFTA-Award winning writer Andrew Davies, for ITV. 

Our House was optioned by Red Planet Pictures after a hotly contested auction for the TV rights in a deal brokered by Luke Speed on behalf of Sheila Crowley of the Curtis Brown Group.

Commented Belinda Campbell:

“Simon and I knew as soon as we read Louise’s brilliant book that we had to adapt it for screen and that Polly and ITV would be the perfect home for it. The story is one of intrigue, conspiracy, and betrayal - full of twists and turns that leave you gripped until the last page.”

Our House will commence filming in the summer of 2021.

Casting and the appointment of key production personnel together with location details will be announced closer to filming commencing.