Hell Fire! is to develop the best-selling DI Charley Mann novels by R.C. Bridgestock, into a television drama series.
The Leeds-based indie is also working on a true-crime docu-drama series fronted by Bridgestock and co-produced by his Walking The Line TV consultancy.
Bob Bridgestock is a former Senior Investigating Officer for West Yorkshire Police and he co-created the the DI Charley Mann novels with his wife, Carol, a Senior Clerical Officer.
The pair have consulted on a number of crime and policing television series, including Happy Valley and The Beast Must Die.
With the working title, Mann, the drama series will follow the unconventional female detective protagonist Charley Mann – an edgy and distinctive lead character who pushes the boundaries of the genre with traits “typically associated with hardboiled male characters.”
“What we want to avoid is a straight up ‘damaged female copper’ trope. She’s actually a lot more layered than that, maybe even a bit Christian Grey,” explained Nate Camponi, co-founder of Hell Fire!
“She’s determined, dominant and promiscuous. She also shares many of the traits of Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs in terms of drive and fearlessness. She rides this line between super cop and someone on the edge. And her thought process is often aligned to criminals she’s hunting – much like Will Graham again from the Hannibal Lecter genre.”
The true-crime docu drama series, which is going under the working title of Murder Box, will see Bridgestock, examining some of his most gripping and high-profile criminal cases, using never seen before evidence and archival Police footage mixed with interviews and cinematic reconstruction.
