A Reboot Of Classic Series ‘Tenko’ & A ‘Chalet Girl’ TV Adaptation Are In The Works At Two Brothers Pictures

EXCLUSIVE: A new version of classic BBC wartime drama Tenko is in the works from the producers of The Assassin and Fleabag. Prolific British drama label Two Brothers Pictures has mostly focused on original ideas but, having staffed up, is pushing into optioning and adapting existing works. Another IP-led project in the works is a TV series adaptation of the 2011 movie Chalet Girl.

Tenko was produced for the BBC in the UK and ABC in Australia running for three seasons between 1981-1984 and yielding a special in 1985. Starting in 1942, it followed a group of UK, Australian and Dutch civilian women held in a fictitious Japanese internment camp near Singapore. It showed how the women survived the harsh conditions, banded together and fought to survive in the prison camp.

Two Brothers approached the show’s creator Lavinia Warner about making a version for modern-day TV. Anna Symon (Mrs. Wilson) is writing the new version of the seminal show.

“We went to Lavinia Warner, who was the original producer and creator,” Sarah Hammond, Chief Creative Officer at Two Brothers told Deadline. “She had a lot of relationships with the women, and the families of the women who were in the war camp, so she didn’t want to hand the reins over to just anyone, but she was really excited to work with us to bring it back.”

Two Brothers was founded by Jack and Harry Williams and is part of Banijay Entertainment. Another series in-the-making from the label is Chalet Girl. Tessa Coates (Ride or Die) is on board to pen the TV adaptation. The original 2011 rom-com movie starred Felicity Jones and Ed Westwick.

Hammond said the TV series will be aimed at the red-hot ‘new adult’ market. “We’re looking at different genres that we’ve never explored before, so the new adult space, for example,” Hammond said. “Chalet Girl was an indie movie of the 2000s, and that’s something that we’re working with the original producers on, for a new adult version.

“What the team loved about the original film was the spiky lead character who felt brilliant and funny, and it’s got all the moving parts of a new adult story. It’s got the sex and the love and the exotic locations and it has a brilliant tone and a real voice. It was something that we thought feels like, if we put the Two Brothers lens on it, could be really exciting.”