BBC Films, Shine Pictures Buy Film Rights to Tom Rob Smith Novel ‘The Farm’

LONDON – BBC Films and Shine Pictures, the film division of Elisabeth Murdoch‘s Shine Group, have bought the rights to psychological thriller The Farm, the latest novel penned by Tom Rob Smith.

The book is set in London and Sweden and tells the tale of a boy who believes his parents are living a peaceful life on a farm in rural Sweden. He gets a call from his father telling him his mother has escaped from a mental hospital shortly after being committed. Then his mother calls and asks him to allow her to give her side of the story.

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The novel reached number two on the U.K. charts during its opening month and is also a best-seller in Australia, Germany and Israel, with a further 13 major territories sold.

Shine Pictures head of literary acquisitions Sue Swift brought the book to the banner. It will be produced by Shine’s head of film, Ollie Madden, with Christine Langan exec producing for BBC Films.

BBC Films chief Langan said: “The Farm skewers you on the horns of a fabulous dilemma while effortlessly drawing you into a curious and strangely sinister world. Tom Rob Smith’s latest novel is a sophisticated, layered narrative with real page-turning urgency.”

Madden said: “I’ve been a huge fan of Tom’s novels since Child 44, and when I picked up The Farm I read it in one enrapt sitting. It’s very rare that you read something which is simultaneously thrilling, thought-provoking, totally unpredictable and packs a real emotional punch.”

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Smith’s Child 44 trilogy has sold more than four million copies worldwide, and the first book has been made into a film directed by Daniel Espinosa starring Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace. It is due for release this year.

Smith also created the five-part BBC-backed miniseries London Spy, which will air in 2015.

Shine Pictures and the public broadcaster’s movie division previously worked together on Salmon Fishing In the Yemen.