With so many television dramas adapted from books, you're often left feeling left out when others around you compare it to the book. So if that rings true to you, then I've scanned the many TV shows coming up in the next 12 months or so, picking out the books they're being adapted from, so you can get ahead of the hype.
Here's a list of 23 books to read, before they make their way onto the small screen, alongside all you need to know about their upcoming adaptations...
All The Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
Anthony Doerr's 2014 novel All The Light We Cannot See is being adapted by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight into a new limited four-part drama for Netflix, telling the story of Marie-Laure, a blind French teenager, and Werner, a German soldier, whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
Mark Ruffalo will play Daniel LeBlanc, the principal locksmith at the Museum of Natural History in Paris who is determined to give his blind daughter Marie as much independence as he can while also protecting her and the secret gem they carry from Nazi occupation.
Hugh Laurie will play Etienne LeBlanc, an eccentric and reclusive World War I hero suffering from PTSD. He is a nervous shut-in who records clandestine radio broadcasts as part of the French Resistance. And blind actress Aria Mia Loberti will make her acting debut in the lead role as Marie-Laure, the blind teenager at the heart of the story.
The series will be produced by 21 Laps Entertainment with Shawn Levy, Dan Levine and Josh Barry as executive producers and Shawn Levy directing.
The novel became a global phenomenon, receiving wide critical acclaim, spending more than 200 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and selling more than 9.5m copies worldwide.
All The Light We Cannot See will air on Netflix
The Catch
T.M. Logan
T.M Logan's 2020 novel The Catch is being adapted by Michael Crompton, into a new four-part drama for Channel 5, telling the story of Ed Collier, a proud husband, father and local fisherman determined to do whatever it takes to keep his family together.
But when a rich, handsome younger man called Ryan Wilson enters daughter Abbie’s, life and threatens to take her away from him, Ed finds his life spiralling out of control. Secrets and lies are exposed with every twist and turn, including from Ed’s own past. As he is faced with the very real possibility of losing everything he’s worked so hard to achieve, can Ed discover the truth about his daughter’s new boyfriend before it’s too late?
Set against the hauntingly beautiful coastline of the west of England, Jason Watkins will play Ed Collier alongside Aneurin Barnard as Ryan Wilson and Poppy Gilbert as Ed's daughter Abbie.
Elsewhere, Cathy Belton will play Ed’s wife Claire Collier, Brenda Fricker will play Ed’s mother-in-law Phyllis Doyle, Ian Pirie will play Ed’s best friend and business partner Bob Chapman, Jade Jordan will play Abbie’s best friend Katz and newcomer Morgan Palmeria will play smitten lifeguard George.
The series will be produced by Projector Pictures, in association with Night Train Media and All3Media International with Rachel Gesua, Suzi McIntosh, Trevor Eve, Herbert L. Kloiber and Olivia Pahl as executive producers and Robert Quinn directing.
The novel was a Sunday Times Bestseller and is the second of T.M. Logan's books to be adapted into a Channel 5 drama, following 2022's The Holiday which starred Jill Halfpenny as a woman whose dream family holiday quickly becomes a nightmare after discovering that her husband is having an affair with one of her best friends. And her four best friends are on holiday with her.
The Catch will air on Channel 5
The Changeling
Victor LaValle
Victor LaValle's 2017 acclaimed, bestselling novel The Changeling, is being adapted by Kelly Marcel into a new drama for Apple TV+, which is being described as a fairytale for grown-ups. A horror story, a parenthood fable and a perilous odyssey through a New York City you didn’t know existed.
The series will be produced by Apple Studios and Annapurna, with LaKeith Stanfield attached to star and executive produce alongside Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle, Patrick Chu, Ali Krug and Melina Matsoukas as executive producers, Kelly Marcel as showrunner and executive producer, Khaliah Neal as co-executive producer and Melina Matsoukas as executive producer and director.
The Changeling will air on Apple TV+
Daisy Jones & the Six
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid's 2019 novel Daisy Jones & the Six is being adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber into a new 10-part musical-drama for Prime Video, detailing the rise and precipitous fall of a renowned rock band. It's the story of how an iconic band imploded at the height of its powers.
In 1977, Daisy Jones & The Six were on top of the world. Fronted by two charismatic lead singers, Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, the band had risen from obscurity to fame. And then, after a sold-out show at Chicago's Soldier Field, they called it quits. Now, decades later, the band members finally agree to reveal the truth.
Riley Keough and Sam Claflin will play Daisy and Billy alongside Camila Morrone as Camila Dunne, Will Harrison as Graham Dunne, Suki Waterhouse as Karen Sirko, Josh Whitehouse as Eddie Roundtree, Sebastian Chacon as Warren Rhodes, Nabiyah Be as Simone Jackson, Tom Wright as Teddy Price, and Timothy Olyphant in a guest role as Rod Reyes.
The series will be produced by Amazon Studios and Hello Sunshine with Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter and Brad Mendelsohn with Scott Neustadter and Will Graham as co-showrunners and executive producers with James Ponsoldt directing the first five episodes and Nzingha Stewart directing four of the remaining episodes and Will Graham directing one.
Daisy Jones & The Six launches 3rd March on Prime Video with episodes weekly until 24th March
Fleishman Is In Trouble
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Taffy Brodesser-Akner's 2019 New York Times bestselling novel Fleishman Is In Trouble is being adapted by Taffy herself into a new 8-part drama for FX on Hulu, telling the story of recently divorced 41-year-old Toby Fleishman, who dives into the brave new world of app-based dating with the kind of success he never had dating in his youth.
But just at the start of his first summer of sexual freedom, his ex-wife disappears, leaving him with the kids and no hint of where she is or whether she plans to return.
Jesse Eisenberg will play Toby Fleishman alongside Adam Brody as Seth, Claire Danes as Rachel, Lizzy Caplan as Libby, Maxim Swinton as Solly and Meara Mahoney Gross as Hanna.
The series will be produced by ABC Signature with Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Susannah Grant, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton as executive producers with Faris and Denton directing multiple episodes across the series and Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini as executive producers on the multiple episodes they directed.
Fleishman Is In Trouble will air on Disney+
Funny Girl
Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby's 2014 novel Funny Girl is being adapted by Morwenna Banks into a new comedy drama for Sky Max, telling the story of a young woman from Blackpool finding her comic voice in the male-dominated world of the 1960s sitcom.
It’s the height of the swinging 60s and Barbara Parker has just been crowned Miss Blackpool, but there’s got to be more to life than being a beauty queen in a seaside town, right? She wants to be… someone. The bright lights of London are calling, and our determined hero sets off to find out who that someone is.
The London she encounters is not as quite as swinging as the one she’d read about and seen on TV. However, after a series of setbacks Barbara finds herself in unfamiliar territory - an audition for a TV comedy show.
Barbara’s uncompromising northern wit proves to be the X factor that the show has been missing. She gets the part and becomes part of a ground-breaking new sitcom that will have an impact on British comedy for decades to come.
Being a woman in a largely male environment has its own challenges, but as Barbara ‘finds her funny’ she re-defines the prevailing attitude to funny women and in the process, reinvents herself.
Gemma Arterton will play Barbara Parker, the force of nature who takes London by storm
The series will be produced by Potboiler and Rebel Park Productions in association with Sky Studios with Nick Hornby, Gemma Arterton, Morwenna Banks, Andrea Calderwood, Gail Egan, Jessica Parker and Jessica Malik as executive producers and Oliver Parker directing.
Funny Woman starts Thursday 9th February on Sky Max
The Gallows Pole
Benjamin Myers
Benjamin Myers' 2017 novel The Gallows Pole is being adapted by Shane Meadows into a new period drama for BBC One, which fictionalises the remarkable true story of the rise and fall of David Hartley and the Cragg Vale Coiners.
Set against the backdrop of the coming industrial revolution in 18th century Yorkshire, the compelling drama follows the enigmatic David Hartley, as he assembles a gang of weavers and land-workers to embark upon a revolutionary criminal enterprise that will capsize the economy and become the biggest fraud in British history.
Cast includes former This Is England actors Thomas Turgoose and Michael Socha alongside George MacKay, Tom Burke, Sophie McShera, Cara Theobold, Yusra Warsama, Eve Burley, Nicole Barber Lane, Samuel Edward-Cook, Anthony Welsh, Joe Sproulle, Adam Fogerty and Fine Time Fontayne.
The series will be produced by Element Pictures in association with Big Arty for the BBC in association with A24 with Nickie Sault, a long-time collaborator of Shane Meadows as producer.
The Gallows Pole will air on BBC One
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Holly Jackson
Holly Jackson's 2019 bestselling novel A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is being adapted by Poppy Cogan into a new six-part teen crime thriller for BBC Three, about schoolgirl Andie Bell who was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it and everyone in town knows he did it. Case closed.
Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure and she’s determined to prove it. But if Sal Singh isn’t a murderer and the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pippa from the truth?
The series will be produced by Moonage Pictures with Matthew Read, Frith Tiplady, Lucy Richer, Ayela Butt, Holly Jackson and Poppy Cogan as executive producers and Florence Walker producing. It'll be written by lead writer Poppy Cogan alongside Zia Ahmed, Ajoke Ibironke and Ruby Thomas.
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder will air on BBC Three
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations (originally released in a series of weekly chapters) is being adapted by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight into a new six-part drama for BBC One and FX, telling the story of an orphan nicknamed Pip.
Olivia Colman will star as Miss Havisham alongside Fionn Whitehead as Pip as well as Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, Trystan Gravelle and Matt Berry.
The series will be produced by FX Productions in association with the BBC with Steven Knight, Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker, David W. Zucker, Kate Crowe and Mona Qureshi as executive producers.
Great Expectations will air on BBC One
The Last Thing He Told Me
Laura Dave
Laura Dave's 2021 novel The Last Thing He Told Me is being adapted by Laura herself alongside series co-creator Josh Singer into a new limited drama for Apple TV+, telling the story of a woman who forms an unexpected relationship with her 16-year-old stepdaughter while searching for the truth about why her husband has mysteriously disappeared.
Jennifer Garner will play Hannah (a role originally given to Julia Roberts) alongside Aisha Tyler as Jules, Angourie Rice as Bailey, Augusto Aguilera as Grady, Geoff Stults as Jake, John Harlan Kim as Bobby and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Owen.
The series will be produced by Hello Sunshine, 20th Television and Red Om Films with Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter, Marisa Yeres Gill and Lisa Gillan as executive producers.
The Last Thing He Told Me will air on Apple TV+
Lessons in Chemistry
Bonnie Garmus
Bonnie Garmus' 2022 debut novel Lessons in Chemistry is being adapted by Susannah Grant into a new drama for Apple TV+, telling the story of Elizabeth Zott whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a society deeming that women belong in the domestic sphere, not the professional one.
When Elizabeth finds herself pregnant, alone and fired from her lab, she musters the ingenuity only a single mother has. She accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives – and the men who are suddenly listening – a lot more than recipes … all the while craving a return to her true love: science.
Brie Larson will play Elizabeth alongside Lewis Pullman as Calvin, Aja Naomi King as Harriet Slone, Stephanie Koenig as Fran Frask, Patrick Walker as Wakely, Thomas Mann as Boryweitz, Kevin Sussman as Walter and Beau Bridges as Wilson.
The series will be produced by Apple Studios, Aggregate Films, The Great Unknown Productions and Piece of Work Entertainment with Brie Larson, Jason Bateman, Michael Costigan, Natalie Sandy, Susannah Grant, Louise Shore as executive producers, Elijah Allan-Blitz and Bonnie Garmus as co-executive producers and Lee Eisenberg as showrunner.
Lessons in Chemistry will air on Apple TV+
One Day
David Nicholls
David Nicholls' 2009 novel One Day is being adapted by Nicole Taylor into a new romantic drama for Netflix, telling the story of Emma and Dexter's
Ambika Mod will play Emma alongside Leo Woodall as Dexter and Eleanor Tomlinson as Sylvie who in the novel forms a relationship with Dexter.
The series will be produced by Drama Republic, Universal International Studios and Focus Features and is being written by Nicole Taylor with Anna Jordan, Vinay Patel and Bijan Sheibani.
This isn't the first time that Nicholls' bestselling has been adapted for the screen with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess starring as Emma and Dexter in Nicholls' own film adaptation in 2011.
One Day will air on Netflix
Platform 7
Louise Doughty
Louise Doughty's 2019 novel Platform Seven is being adapted by Paula Milne into a new four-part haunting thriller for ITVX, telling the story of Lisa who, after witnessing a cataclysmic event on platform 7 of a railway station, finds her own fragmented memory jogged to reveal a connection between her own life and that of the event she has just witnessed.
The series will be produced by Dancing Ledge Productions with Rosalie Carew as producer, and Chris Carey, Laurence Bowen and Kate Triggs as executive producers.
Platform 7 will air on ITVX
The Power
Naomi Alderman
Naomi Alderman's 2016 science fiction novel The Power is being adapted by Naomi herself into a new 10-part global thriller for Prime Video, telling the story of what happens when suddenly, and without warning, all teenage girls in the world develop the power to electrocute people at will. It's hereditary, it's inbuilt, and it can't be taken away from them.
Coming alive to the thrill of pure power: the ability to hurt or even kill by releasing electrical jolts from their fingertips, they rapidly learn they can awaken the Power in older women. Soon enough nearly every woman in the world can do it. And then everything is different.
The series will be produced by Sister for Amazon Studios with Reed Morano as executive producer and director and with Naomi leading an all-female writers' room, with every episode also to be directed by women.
The Power will air on Prime Video
Presumed Innocent
Scott Turow
Scott Turow's 1987 novel Presumed Innocent is being adapted by David E. Kelley into a new 8-part limited drama for Apple TV+, telling the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys' office when one of its own is suspected of the crime.
The adaptation of Turow's courtroom thriller promises to explore obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.
The series will be produced by Bad Robot Productions and David E. Kelley Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television with J.J. Abrams, Ben Stephenson, David E. Kelley, Matthew Tinker and Dustin Thomason as executive producers and Scott Turow and Rusch Rich as co-executive producers.
Presumed Innocent will air on Apple TV+
Queenie
Candice Carty-Williams
Candice Carty-Williams's 2019 debut novel Queenie is being adapted by Candice herself into a new 8-part drama for Channel 4, telling the story of a young Black woman’s value and the unrelenting trials and tribulations of life.
The eight 30-minute episodes will follow 25-year-old Queenie Jenkins, a Jamaican British straddler of both cultures, sometimes catastrophist, occasional mess, but more often than not an undervalued success, who is always, always enough.
As Queenie’s already loyal subjects will know, she works at a national newspaper where she's frequently forced to compare herself to her white, middle-class peers. After a less than clean break up from her long-term white boyfriend Tom, she finds herself somewhat lost and searching for comfort in all the wrong places, including the beds and backseats of several undeserving men who do a great job of occupying her brain space, but a bad one of affirming her self-worth.
The series will be produced by Further South Productions in association with Lionsgate Television with Steve November, Sarah Conroy and Candice Carty-Williams as executive producers.
Queenie will air on Channel 4
Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart
Douglas Stuart's 2020 Booker Prize winning debut novel Shuggie Bain is being adapted by Douglas himself into a new drama for BBC One, telling the unforgettable story of a mother-son relationship in working-class Glasgow.
Shuggie’s mother Agnes, a luminous, glamourous star she has always believed herself to be, dreams of a house with its own front door, ordering a little happiness on credit. Agnes finds increasing solace in drink, and she drains away the lion’s share of each week’s benefits, all the family has to live on.
To Shuggie, an effeminate boy who struggles to fit in, Agnes is his guiding light. He cares for her as she battles with alcoholism while he struggles to become the normal boy he desperately longs to be.
Promising to be a heartbreaking story of pride, sexuality, addiction, and love, Shuggie Bain is inspired by Douglas Stuart’s own childhood in Thatcher-years Glasgow and is a powerful portrayal of a working-class family with a very important story to tell.
The series will be produced by A24 with Gaynor Holmes as executive producer for the BBC.
Shuggie Bain will air on BBC One
Six Four
Hideo Yokoyama
Hideo Yokoyama's 20__ novel Six Four is being adapted by Gregory Burke into a four-part crime thriller for ITVX, telling a dark and compelling story of kidnap, corruption, betrayal and an uncompromising search for the truth, when Chris and Michelle O’Neill’s teenage daughter goes missing.
Set primarily in Glasgow, Kevin McKidd will play Chris, a serving police detective who is provided with a startling revelation about an infamous, unsolved case that once divided the police when a local girl called Julie Mackie disappeared.
Now, reeling from the news that his own daughter has gone missing, Chris is approached by a journalist who tells him that fatal mistakes were covered-up in Julie’s disappearance. Revisiting the case, Chris uncovers a series of undeniable errors, corruption and unbridled ambition.
As Chris fights to make sense of what he’s discovered, his wife Michelle, played by Vinette Robinson, takes matters into her own hands in search of their daughter. Using skills she learned as a former undercover officer, Michelle takes ever-increasing risks as she follows a trail of clues into the criminal underworld she previously escaped from, where vice and extortion had the power to reach to the top of the political establishment.
While Chris and Michelle do everything they can to get to the truth, the daughter of the Justice Minister is suddenly kidnapped, just as the minister is on the cusp of achieving a political election victory. The kidnap has unnerving similarities to the Mackie case. Is the past repeating itself, or is the explosive truth of what really happened to Julie Mackie about to be revealed?
Richard McKidd will star alongside Richard Coyle, James Cosmo, Alex Ferns, Iona Anderson, Andrew Whipp and Nalini Chetty.
The series will be produced by House Productions with Gregory Burke, Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross and Molly Bolt as executive producers, Ben A. Williams directing and Clare Kerr producing.
Six Four will air on ITVX
Skint Estate
Cash Carraway
Cash Carraway's 2019 memoir Skint Estate is being adapted by Cash herself into a new 8-part comedy-drama for BBC One, and is a wild and punky tale of a mother’s love for her daughter, of deep-rooted and passionate friendships, and of brilliance thwarted by poverty and prejudice.
Daisy May Cooper will play Costello Jones, a writer and single mother with a rock and roll swagger and a glint in her eye, a woman who appreciates the glamour of the gutter but would do anything to keep her daughter, Iris, from it. Iris will be played by Fleur Tashjian.
Jack Farthing will play Selby, a boarding school boy educated on Brett Easton Ellis and Goddard, Costello’s loyal soulmate and loving tormentor. Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo will play Gloria Duke, Iris’s chaotic, directionless and utterly glorious godmother who’s running out of second chances.
The series will be produced by Sid Gentle Films Ltd, co-produced by the BBC and HBO and produced by Ciara Mcllvenny with Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris, Cash Carraway, Jo McClellan as executive producers, Henrietta Colvin as co-producer and Richard Laxton as .Lead Director with Jennifer Perrott also directing.
Rain Dogs will air on BBC One
Sweetpea
C. J. Skuse
C.J. Skuse's 2017 novel Sweet Pea is being adapted by Kristie Swain into a new eight-part dark comic drama for Sky Atlantic, telling the story of Rhiannon who is your average girl next door, living quietly with her boyfriend and little dog.
By day her job as an office manager is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friends’ plans for marriage and babies. Rhiannon never complains, smiling through it all with reserves of serenity and a sparkling wit.
She has become skilled at keeping it together. Being normal. But behind this mask is a ferocious power lying dormant, and a long-buried secret that Rhiannon wishes she could forget.
When a chance encounter with a stranger leads to a shocking act of violence, Rhiannon’s mask slips completely and she is forced to confront the darker side she has long kept hidden. The girl everyone overlooks might just be able to get away with murder.
The series will be produced by See-Saw Films.
Sweetpea will air on Sky Atlantic
Wahala
Nikki May
Nikki May's 2022 debut novel Wahala is being adapted by Theresa Ikoko into a new drama for BBC One, telling the story of three thirty-something Anglo-Nigerian female friends living in London, successfully navigating a world that mixes roast dinners with jollof rice.
.Simi, Ronke and Boo have been best friends for years, sharing every aspect of their careers, family lives and relationships with one another. But when the beautiful, charismatic and super-wealthy Isobel infiltrates their friendship group, mounting tensions, unravelling bonds and unearthed secrets have shocking and tragic consequences.
The series will be produced by Firebird Pictures with Elizabeth Kilgarriff and Mona Qureshi as executive producers.
Wahala will air on BBC One
The White Darkness
David Grann
David Grann's 2018 non-fiction book The White Darkness is being adapted by _________ into a new limited drama for Apple TV+, which is inspired by the true life account of Henry Worsley.
A devoted husband and father, a former soldier, a man of deep honour and sacrifice, Henry was also a man deeply obsessed with adventure, manifesting in an epic journey crossing Antarctica on foot.
Tom Hiddleston will play Henry Worsley in what promises to be a spellbinding story of courage, love, family and the extremes of human capacity.
The series will be produced by Apple Studios and UCP, co-showrun with Soo Hugh and Mark Heyman who are also executive producers with Tom Hiddleston and Theresa Kang-Lowe for Blue Marble Pictures.
The White Darkness will air on Apple TV+
You
Zoran Drvenkar
Zoran Drvenkar's 2014 novel You is being adapted by Ben Chanan into a new eight-part drama for Sky Max, telling the story of Tara O’Rourke and her closest friends as they go in search of her long-lost mother after Tara kills her estranged father in a drug-fueled rage.
Along the way, the girls have to navigate depleting funds, awkward romances and an inconvenient pregnancy – but the biggest danger comes from Tara’s uncle, Reagan – because the girls made the mistake of stealing Reagan’s drug stash… and he happens to be the most feared gangster in Rotterdam.
And all the while, the spectre of a mythical serial killer known as 'The Traveller' inches ever closer.
Leah McNamara, Vivian Oparah, Yasmin Monet Prince and newcomer Isidora Fairhurst take on the roles of four friends whose dreams of the perfect summer holiday spiral into a dark and perilous adventure after they inadvertently cross paths with some of the most dangerous people in Europe.
The series will be produced by Kudos in association with Sky Studios and German label MadeFor, with Ben Chanan, Kara Manley, Serena Thompson, Karen Wilson and Katie McAleese as executive producers.
Then You Run will air on Sky Max