Following its successful home debut in South Africa on M-Net, and US distribution on Tubi, DEVIL’S PEAK – the 5-part miniseries adaptation of Deon Meyer’s prize-winning 2005 novel – has finally found its UK home, streaming now on U (formally UKTV) and on Channel 4’s on-demand service.
DEVIL’S PEAK sees the talented but broken Benny Griessel tracking down a righteous vigilante killer whose crimes are capturing the imagination of the city. Meanwhile, grieving father Thobela Mpayipheli seeks justice after the untimely murder of his son. Benny and Thobela are brought into the orbit of a trapped mother, Christine, who is willing to do anything to achieve a better life for herself and her daughter, and the fates of these three characters become inextricably linked. Combining gripping tension with uncompromising authenticity, DEVIL’S PEAK offers an original South African take on the investigative thriller for today.
Produced by Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions, with backing by BBC Studios and Multichoice Studios, the series stars Hilton Pelser (THE KISSING BOOTH, MOFFIE) as Detective Benny Griessel, with Sisanda Henna (who starred in previous Deon Meyer adaptation TRACKERS), Tarryn Wyngaard, Shamilla Miller, and Masasa Mbangeni. The 5 x 1-hour series is directed by Jozua Malherbe (JUSTICE SERVED, GRIEKWASTAD) and written by Matthew Orton (MOON KNIGHT, OPERATION FINALE). International distribution for the show is being handled by BBC Studios.
Originally published in Afrikaans as INFANTA in 2005, and translated into English by K.L. Seegers, DEVIL’S PEAK won the ATKV Prize in South Africa and won the Svenska Oversatta Kriminalroman (Martin Beck) Award and the Readers’ Award from CritiquesLibres.com in October 2010. The book is published in English in the UK and Canada by Hodder & Stoughton and WF Howes, and in the USA by Little, Brown, as well as in many translation markets.
The latest Benny Griessel novel, SCORPIO RISING, was first published last year in Afrikaans by Human and Rousseau, with Pan Macmillan publishing the English translation (translated by K.L. Seegers), in South Africa in October this year, and in the UK on 11 February 2027, alongside Grove Atlantic in the US and Canada. Rights have further sold in France (Editions Gallimard), the Netherlands (A W Bruna) and Germany (Aufbau).
Photo: Will Punt, Peartree Photography
About Deon Meyer
Deon Meyer lives in Stellenbosch. His books are sold in 31 countries, and have been awarded many prizes around the world: the Deutsche Krimi Prize in Germany, the ATKV Prize in South Africa, the Martin Beck Award in Sweden and Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and Le Prix Mystère de la Critique in France. COBRA was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger, THIRTEEN HOURS was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA International Dagger, and HEART OF THE HUNTER, was longlisted for the 2005 IMPAC Prize and selected as one of Chicago Tribune’s ‘10 best mysteries and thrillers of 2004’. THE DARK FLOOD was longlisted for the 2023 CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation. His latest novel LEO, a new Benny Griessel thriller, enjoyed ten weeks at the top of the South African bestseller lists, Number One in all categories.
Adaptations of Deon’s novels have recently had great success on screen: in April 2024, HEART OF THE HUNTER topped the global Netflix film charts, becoming the first African film to do so, with over 11 million views in its first two days alone. DEVIL’S PEAK was also adapted for a miniseries by Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions, premiering on M-Net in South Africa in 2023 before reaching audiences in the USA, New Zealand, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg and the UK via U on Channel 4. In 2020, TRACKERS, produced by Three River Fiction and Scene 23, aired on Sky Atlantic in the UK and HBO in the USA, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and across the Nordic countries and Europe.
Praise for the novel DEVIL’S PEAK
‘With Deon Meyer you can't go wrong. He's a writer whose work I admire, wait for and then devour.’ – Michael Connelly
‘Deon Meyer portrays a world of terrifying uncertainty, in which those who fought for liberation from apartheid are having to come to terms with the knowledge that freedom is not enough to wipe out cruelty. A thoughtful and exciting novel.’ – Natasha Cooper, Times Literary Supplement
‘This is one of those entertainment fictions that teaches one more than any textbook or documentary. This thriller is a fascinating portrayal of one aspect of life in post-apartheid South Africa… winding up the tension to a gripping, shocking climax. Highly recommended.’ – Literary Review
‘Deon Meyer is…one of the sharpest and most perceptive thriller writers around…Meyer paints a wonderful picture of the dark side of the rainbow nation… Against the odds Meyer leaves us with a resolution that is both poignant and supremely satisfying. In no way is this a negative book about the new South Africa. It makes the place come alive with a breathless urgency that recalls the 1940s Los Angeles of Dashiel Hammet or Raymond Chandler: a bit mad, a bit bad, a bit dangerous, but exotically vibrant, a society in adolescence. Think of Meyer in the way that you might have regarded a bottle of Cape red a dozen years ago – dark, strong with an unusual but beguilingly moreish taste. If it can produce popular literature as good as this, the new South Africa has a lot going for it.’ – Peter Millar, The Times
‘If you want a glimpse of the soul of the new South Africa in all its glory, and with all the gory details of its problems and corruption, Meyer is your man… I marvelled at the intricacy of the plotting, I smiled at Christine's cheeky ingenuity, I felt Thobela's pain and Benny's desperation, and I was stunned by a dénouement of awesome power and accomplishment.’ – Matthew Lewin, The Guardian
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