GRAY HUGHES DIRECTS JOE MARLER'S SKY SPORTS DOCUMENTARY BIG BOYS DON'T CRY

Big Boys Don’t Cry, directed by Blake Friedmann client Gray Hughes, follows England Rugby forward Joe Marler as he discusses his own struggles and learns new methods of managing mental wellbeing

The documentary first aired at 4pm on Sky Sports Arena on Wednesday 14th May – Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK – follows Marler as he travels the UK to open up conversation around mental health challenges and to learn about how people manage with their mental wellbeing, taking the plunge in freshwater swimming and getting involved in singing in a choir along the way.

Recently the England and Harlequins player has spoken about his battles with mental health during his private live and his time playing rugby on the international stage.

Marler also explained his thoughts behind making the hour-long documentary Boys Don’t Cry, “I wanted to meet people who, like me, had gone down their own mental health ‘rabbit holes’. I wanted to hear about how they found their own ways of getting out of them and gain a better understanding of how mental health issues affect us all.

“I hope that talking about my own mental health will get others talking about theirs and help to normalise it, especially in an alpha male-dominated sport like rugby. We are required to dominate and intimidate opposing players when we cross the white line on the pitch, we must show no weakness or vulnerability in order to win. But it doesn’t have to be like that off the pitch. I want to help spread the message that many others have done already that it’s okay not to be okay. And help people find the right tools to cope.”

You can read more here and watch the show here.

ITV COMMISSIONS A SECOND SERIES OF DETECTIVE DRAMA GRACE, BASED ON BESTSELLING BOOK SERIES BY PETER JAMES

We are delighted to announce that ITV has commissioned a second series of GRACE, the detective drama based on Number One bestselling author Peter James’s Detective Superintendent Roy Grace book series. John Simm will return as Brighton-based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, with Russell Lewis returning as screenwriter.

Co-starring Richie Campbell as DS Glenn Branson and Rakie Ayola as ACC Vosper, the first GRACE film DEAD SIMPLE (which aired on ITV in March) achieved consolidated ratings of 8.8m viewers and received glowing reviews from the critics. DEAD SIMPLE is currently being rolled out around the rest of the world along with the second episode, LOOKING GOOD DEAD.

The new Roy Grace dramas set to be filmed are NOT DEAD ENOUGH, DEAD MAN’S FOOTSTEPS and DEAD TOMORROW. The three 120-minute films are produced by Second Act Productions and Tall Story Pictures, both part of ITV Studios, and Vaudeville Productions.

ITV’s Head of Drama Polly Hill commented: ‘We are delighted to be adapting more of Peter James’ wonderful novels. John Simm has brilliantly brought the much-loved Detective Superintendent Roy Grace to screen and there are many more cases for the audiences to enjoy.’

Writer Russell Lewis commented: ‘After the overwhelmingly positive audience response to the seaside noir of DEAD SIMPLE, (tabloid trauma tales notwithstanding!) and LOOKING GOOD DEAD cued up ready to go, all at Team Roy Grace are delighted to have been given the opportunity by ITV to return to Brighton (& Hove, actually!) to continue Roy's story with a new series of films based on Peter James’ best-selling novels.

We’ll be shooting out of our Brighton HQ and all along and around the South Coast from late summer through to very late autumn, so it’s quite possible that like some macabre Radio Fab Roadshow, our caravanserai of coroner’s van, SOCO unit, Mobile Incident Room may well be coming to a street near you!  As the late, great Shaw Taylor used to ask viewers on Police 5... “Keep ‘em peeled!”’

Executive producers are Andrew O’Connor and Paul Sandler for Second Act Productions, Patrick Schweitzer for Tall Story Pictures, Michael Vine for Vaudeville Productions, Russell Lewis and Peter James.

ITV Studios are responsible for the international distribution of Grace and recently streamed DEAD SIMPLE and LOOKING GOOD DEAD via Britbox North America, where the new series will also be exclusively available in North America. Further international streaming plans will be announced soon.

North American praise for GRACE
GRACE was included in many One to Watch lists, including Gatehouse Media/USA Today Network , Yahoo!, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, Celebrity Page, The Seattle Times, TV Week, Reality Yeo, Tribute and Entertainment Weekly.

‘Excellent, with engaging, complex mysteries and a main character that gets us on their side. Simm, who has played both good and bad guys just in the last few years, hooks us immediately as Roy Grace... It certainly made us look forward to the second episode in the limited run of the first season.’ — Decider

‘A smart and involving tale.’ — Mike Hughes, TV’s Best Bits, Mansfield News Journal

'What the Brits do so well is to create real, human, flawed but likable detectives... I could not stop watching. I think I held my breath for an hour. Brilliant acting from John Simm and the sort of jigsaw puzzle cinematography that is the hallmark of British TV... Everybody go and watch.' — Rhys Bowen, Jungle Red

The seventeenth instalment in the Roy Grace book series, LEFT YOU DEAD, is published in the UK by Pan Macmillan on 13 May 2021. Peter James has also written a Roy Grace novella, WISH YOU WERE DEAD, for The Reading Agency’s QuickReads scheme, to be published on 27 May 2021. The paperback of the standalone thriller I FOLLOW YOU will be out on 24 June 2021.

The LEFT YOU DEAD launch event, hosted by Laura Whitmore, will take place on Wednesday 12th May. You can register for free here. On Thursday 13th May, Peter James will be in conversation with GRACE star John Simm. Details on how to view this event online can be found here.

About Peter James
Peter James is the international bestselling author of many award-winning novels, translated into thirty-seven languages with worldwide sales of over twenty million copies. His Brighton-set Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series has given him seventeen consecutive Sunday Times Number Ones. In 2015 WH Smith customers voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he was awarded the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger, a lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. In 2018 he received a Specsavers Honorary Platinum Bestseller Award.

In addition to his career as a novelist, he has produced several films, including THE MERCHANT OF VENICE starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes. He also co-created the hit Channel 4 series Bedsitcom, which was nominated for a Rose d'Or.

Successful nationwide tours of the stage plays of THE PERFECT MURDER (2014) and DEAD SIMPLE (2015) have packed theatres in dozens of British cities, and garnered magnificent reviews and NOT DEAD ENOUGH opened to full houses and acclaim in 2017. January 2019 saw the opening of the stage tour of THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL, with the sequel THE SECRET OF COLD HILL published in October 2019. The stage play of LOOKING GOOD DEAD will tour the UK later in 2021, starring award-winning actor and EastEnders icon, Adam Woodyatt.

More praise for GRACE
‘A very effective appetite-whetter… The unpretentious storytelling makes this an easy watch, helmed by the always watchable Simm.’ – The Mail on Sunday, Pick of the Day

‘It’s a good’un... John Simm was pleasingly understated as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and the adaptation was well done by Russell Lewis, creator of ENDEAVOUR. Richie Campbell was great as Roy’s colleague, DS Branson, bringing just the right amount of energy to proceedings... If ITV can find room in the schedules, another Grace instalment would go down nicely.’ – Anita Singh, The Telegraph

‘Roy Grace doesn’t have any obvious gimmick to mark him out, but he swiftly establishes himself as a solid addition to the Sunday-night pack… Chilling.’ – James Jackson, The Times, Critic’s Choice

‘Grace and Branson’s race to find Michael made for truly nail-biting TV and there were great performances, with Simm as watchable as ever as the shrewd, yet vulnerable Grace… With more to come later this year… I’ll certainly be tuning in.’ – Gwendolyn Smith, The i

‘The intricate, twist-laden plot, atmospheric south-coast location and impressive performances mean that GRACE is likely to be a hit with fans of the books and newcomers alike.’ – The Sun, Pick of the Day

DAVID GILMAN’S THE ENGLISHMAN LONGLISTED FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED NOVEL AWARD AS PART OF THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE PRIZE 2021

We are delighted that David Gilman’s THE ENGLISHMAN has been longlisted for the Best Published Novel award as part of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Prize for 2021. Selected by a panel of librarians and library staff, the prize seeks to celebrate the best adventure fiction that both honours the tradition of adventure writing and at the same time tries something new. The shortlist will be announced on 20th May, and the winner of the £10,000 award will be announced on 8th September.

David Gilman’s historical novel THE LAST HORSEMAN was also shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize’s Best Published Novel Award in 2017.

THE ENGLISHMAN was first published in July 2020 by Head of Zeus, and has been described as a high-octane international thriller. It was also named a Financial Times Thriller of the Year 2020, and a Love Reading Book of the Year 2020. THE ENGLISHMAN has been optioned for development as a feature film by AGC Studios, comparable to the Jason Bourne franchise. Scriptwriter Kurt Johnstad is set to adapt the adventure-thriller script.

A fast paced and exciting story, THE ENGLISHMAN is a thrilling adventure novel brought to life by Gilman’s prose.

A clandestine war on the desert border of Mali and Algeria. Murder and kidnap on the suburban streets of West London. A Moscow CID police inspector investigating the assassination of four of her fellow officers by the Russian Mafia. A young MI6 officer facing the possibility that a long-running operation has been fatally compromised.

Connecting them all is the Englishman: Dan Raglan, outsider, exile, one-time member of the French Foreign Legion, fully trained killer.

Raglan's quest for answers will become a quest for vengeance. It will lead him to the winter-ravaged wasteland of the Sverdlovskaya Oblast and Penal Colony #74, a place that holds Russia's most brutal murderers. A place of death and retribution.

How will he get in? More importantly, how will he get out?

Translation rights in THE ENGLISHMAN have been sold in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. David Gilman is currently writing the second book in the Englishman series, THE ENGLISHMAN: BETRAYAL for publication by Head of Zeus in 2022.

David Gilman is also the author of the acclaimed and bestselling MASTER OF WAR series, with the 7th title in the series SHADOW OF THE HAWK published in hardback earlier this year by Head of Zeus. These historical adventures, starring soldier knight Sir Thomas Blackstone and set during the 100 Years’ War, are also sold in many translation markets and often reach the Der Spiegel bestseller lists in Germany.

Praise for THE ENGLISHMAN:

‘Raglan is nicely complex: an action man with inner depths … THE ENGLISHMAN is a cracking, finely crafted thriller. I’m looking forward to Raglan’s next outing.’ – Adam LeBor, Financial Times

‘Verve, pace, shocks and intrigue, this is spy thriller writing by an author at the zenith of his powers.’ – Peter James

‘THE ENGLISHMAN is electrifying proof that high-tension international thrillers are back – and with an absolute vengeance.’ – William Shaw

‘David Gilman, who was once a paratrooper, writes convincingly about military and intelligence methods and mind-sets … The last third of THE ENGLISHMAN which Raglan infiltrates a penal colony in the Urals is a sweat-inducing tour de force.’ – Jeremy Duns, Thrillers of the Month, The Times

'A tightly plotted, very well told tale of clandestine campaigns, violent revenge and murky dealings at all levels' – Sci-Fi Bulletin

About the Author:

David Gilman has had an array of jobs: he has been a firefighter, soldier and photographer before he moved into writing, first as an award-winning screenwriter for A TOUCH OF FROST, and writer of an acclaimed adventure series for young readers. He is the author of the acclaimed historical MASTER OF WAR series, as well as historical standalones and contemporary thrillers. Head of Zeus have sold more than half a million copies of his novels in English, and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He currently lives in Devon, and is working on the sequel to THE ENGLISHMAN, THE ENGLISHMAN: BETRAYAL, which is set to be released in February 2022.

Visit David Gilman’s website.

Follow David Gilman on Twitter.

Will Dean longlisted for the 2021 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award

BLACK RIVER, the third book in Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson series, has been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel Award. The award, which is now in its 17th year, celebrates excellence, originality, and the very best in crime fiction from UK and Irish authors. Past winners include Denise Mina, Steve Cavanagh, Val McDermid and Chris Brookmyre. Executive director of T&R Theakston, Simon Theakston said:

“The way the global obsession with the crime genre continues to grow year on year is simply astonishing and this year’s longlist proves the remarkable talent on offer in crime writing, from legends of the craft to eager-eyed newcomers.

The shortlist is already too close to call, so we encourage all to get voting.

A hearty toast of Old Peculier to all longlisted authors for this coveted award, and we look forward to what we know will be a fiercely fought competition.”

The public can vote on the shortlist which will be announced in June as well as pick an overall winner on harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com which will then be announced on 22 July during the opening of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. The winner will receive a cheque for £3,000, and an engraved oak beer cask, hand-carved by one of Britain’s last coopers from Theakstons Brewery.

BLACK RIVER was first published by Point Blank in 2020. When Tuva’s best friend Tammy Yamnim goes missing she races back to Gavrik at the height of Midsommar. Tuva fears for Tammy’s life. Who has taken her, and why? And who is sabotaging the small-town search efforts? Surrounded by dark pine forest, the sinister residents of Snake River are suspicious of outsiders. Unfortunately, they also hold all the answers. On the shortest night of the year, Tuva must fight to save her friend. The only question is who will be there to save Tuva?

Praise for Will Dean:

'A complex plot, suffused with the nightmarish quality of Twin Peaks, and a tough-minded, resourceful protagonist add up to a stand-out read.' — The Guardian

'Dean effectively re-creates the frustration and discomfort of high summer in the forested hills... [Tuva] is becoming more credible with each novel in the series and Dean brings a refreshingly different voice and setting to the subgenre of “femjep” crime writing.’ — Natasha Cooper, Literary Review

‘Dean masterfully ramps up the tension and claustrophobia throughout the story’s sinister series of events before delivering an unexpected and satisfying finale.  Tuva is a wonderful creation and Dean’s series is not to be missed.’ — Daily Express

About Will Dean:

Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.

DARK PINES, the first in the Tuva Moodyson series, was published to huge critical acclaim in 2018, was shortlisted for Not the Booker prize, selected for Zoe Ball’s TV Book Club and named as a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year. THE LAST THING TO BURN, his first standalone novel, was published by Hodder earlier this year.

Follow Will on Twitter

Visit Will’s YouTube channel

Five Blake Friedmann authors longlisted for the South African Sunday Times/CNA Literary Awards

We are delighted that five Blake Friedmann authors are on the longlist for the South African Sunday Times/CNA Literary Awards. OKAY OKAY OKAY by Finuala Dowling, THE BOOK OF MALACHI by T. C. Farren, A POOR SEASON FOR WHALES by Michiel Heyns, THE ZULUS OF NEW YORK by Zakes Mda and THE DISTANCE by Ivan Vladislavić are all on the longlist for the Fiction Prize. In its 20th year, the Fiction Prize is awarded to ‘a novel of rare imagination and style, evocative, textured and a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction.’

The fiction and non-fiction prizes are awarded annually to writers who are either South African citizens or residents, with two years’ worth of books being considered in 2021 due to a hiatus in 2020 due to Covid-19. Past winners of the Fiction Prize include Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Harry Kalmer and Nkosinathi Sithole, as well as Blake Friedmann authors Michiel Heyns in 2012 with LOST GROUND, Marlene van Niekerk in 2007 with AGAAT. Zakes Mda has won the Prize twice, in 2017 with LITTLE SUNS, as well as the inaugural award in 2001 with THE HEART OF REDNESS. Ivan Vladislavić won the Fiction Prize in 2002 with THE RESTLESS SUPERMARKET and the Non-Fiction Prize in 2007 with PORTRAIT WITH KEYS.

OKAY OKAY OKAY by Finuala Dowling

When a strike by the University of Adamastor’s technical staff coincides with a lull in sound operator Vida’s employment, she agrees to stage-manage a university event. There she meets the Head of Effective Communication, Simon Landor. He is caught up in a massive student protest and his communication is anything but effective. Vida, who rescues strays, whether pets or people, steps in. A host of engaging characters populate this novel exploring communication and connection in a complex world.

OKAY OKAY OKAY was published in South Africa by Kwela in 2019.

THE BOOK OF MALACHI by T. C. Farren

Malachi is mute and disconnected from human beings when he gets a mysterious and tempting job offer, with the promise of the restoration of his power of speech. Flown out to an old oilrig, he finds himself a carer and jail keeper in a secretive organ farming operation. But are all the prisoners as evil as the pharmaceutical company says? Sentenced to death anyway, do they deserve their fate, in the service of good people in need? As doubt starts to grow, Malachi is faced with a terrible dilemma. Must he leave them to this medical nightmare or risk his life and set them free?

Malachi may have no tongue, but his voice is one readers will never forget – sharply ironic, vividly descriptive and leavened with humour. He is a compelling guide through the twists and turns of this gripping and ultimately redemptive thriller with a speculative twist. And the great overarching question: What would you do?

THE BOOK OF MALACHI was published by Kwela in South Africa in 2019. It was published in the UK and US by Titan Book and by Bolinda in audio. TV rights have been optioned by Little Island. THE BOOK OF MALACHI was also longlisted for the Nommo Awards for Speculative Fiction in 2020.

A POOR SEASON FOR WHALES by Michiel Heyns

Margaret Crowley, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly fifty-six years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. It was therefore hardly to be foreseen that in her fifty-sixth year she would kill a man with a kitchen knife.

When, after twenty-six years of marriage, Margaret Crowley’s husband leaves her for a younger man, she has to rethink her priorities and consider her options. Opting to leave behind her support system of family and friends, she moves to a seaside town with her dog, Benjy, intent upon a simple, uncluttered existence. But simplicity, it seems, can be a complicated affair. When the charismatic young Jimmy Prinsloo-Mazibuko enters her life and her home, apparently intent upon establishing himself as a general-purpose handyman and cook, she finds herself torn between distrust and attraction. Is he merely the helpful, cheerful young man he seems, or is there a darker purpose to his assistance?

A POOR SEASON FOR WHALES was published in 2020 by Jonathan Ball.

THE ZULUS OF NEW YORK by Zakes Mda

The impresario Farini introduced Em-Pee and his troupe to his kind of show business, and now they must earn their bread. In 1885 in bustling New York City, they are the performers who know the true Zulu dances, while all around them fraudsters perform silly jigs. Reports on the Anglo-Zulu War portrayed King Cetshwayo as infamous, and audiences in London and New York flock to see his kin. What the gawking spectators don't know is that Em-Pee once carried nothing but his spear and shield, when he had to flee his king. But amid the city's squalid vaudeville acts appears a vision that leaves Em-Pee breathless: in a cage in Madison Square Park is Acol, a Dinka princess on display. For Em-Pee, it is love at first sight, though Acol is not free to love anyone back.

THE ZULUS OF NEW YORK was published by Penguin Random House South Africa in 2020. It was also shortlisted for the Adult Fiction Prize at the SA Book Awards 2020.

THE DISTANCE by Ivan Vladislavić

In the spring of 1970, a Pretoria schoolboy, Joe, becomes obsessed with Muhammad Ali. He begins collecting daily newspaper clippings about him, a passion that grows into an archive of scrapbooks. Forty years later, when Joe has become a writer, these scrapbooks become the foundation for a memoir of his childhood. When he calls upon his brother, Branko, for help uncovering their shared past, meaning comes into view in the spaces between then and now, growing up and growing old, speaking out and keeping silent.

THE DISTANCE was published in South Africa in 2020 by Penguin Random House South Africa, and in the UK and US by Archipelago, with audio by Tantor.