Bernardine Evaristo’s Mr. Loverman is headed to the small screen, with Lennie James set to star, Deadline reports.
Evaristo’s novel was published in the U.K. by Penguin in 2013 and in the U.S. by Akashic in 2014. It follows Barrington “Barry” Jedidiah Walker, an Antigua native living in London, who has been cheating on his wife with a male friend. The book won the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction.
James, known for his roles in The Walking Dead and Save Me, will play Barry in the eight-part series, which is being developed for the BBC. Hong Khaou (Lilting, Monsoon) is directing from a script by Nathaniel Price (Tin Star, The Outlaws). James is among the show’s executive producers.
Another of Evaristo’s novels, the Booker Prize–winning Girl, Woman, Other, is being developed as a series by Potboiler Television.
Lindsay Salt, the drama director for BBC, told Deadline, “Mr. Loverman is a must-read novel and in the skilled hands of Nathaniel, Lennie, and the Fable team it will soon be must-see television. I can’t think of a more perfect team to bring Bernardine’s exquisite story to the screen.”
Screenwriter Price shared news of the adaptation on Instagram, writing, “Mr. Loverman is a life-affirming story about family, love, and being true to yourself.…The story paints an incisive portrait of a family, exploring aspirations and regret, parenthood, and social expectations about sexual orientation and love.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
