By the producers of Live At The Apollo

The lighthearted history book 52 Times Britain Was A Bellend could be made into a TV comedy series.

Open Mike Productions, the production company behind Live At The Apollo, has optioned the new book, which is described as a ‘painfully funny history of Britain you were never taught at school’.

It was penned by comedy writer and Twitter commentator James Felton, in the hope of getting readers ‘laughing so much they're tricked into learning history’.

Andy Thistlewood, head of development for Open Mike, told trade website The Bookseller: ‘James Felton’s book is laugh-out-loud funny, so naturally we wanted to exploit his genius.

‘James expertly weaves fascinating historical nuggets of Britain’s bellendery with some obscenely funny jokes, so we’re confident that his book will transfer perfectly to TV.’

The book was released by Sphere last month and is available here.

Open Mike also makes The Last Leg, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Jack Dee’s sitcom Bad Move and All Carr’s Chatty Man. It evolved of the Off The Kerb comedy agency, which represents many of its shows’ stars, and counts Jack Dee as one of the company directors.

Felton’s TV credits include Iain Stirling’s CBBC panel show The Dog Ate My Homework.

Published: 12 Nov 2019