Top writers to adapt Sue Townsend's book afain

The BBC is to make a fresh adaptation of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾.

One Day writer David Nicholls, below, will lead a writing team that also includes  siblings Caitlin and Caroline Moran, who penned Raised By Wolves, Dillon Mapletoft and Oliver Taylor, who created Everyone Else Burns, and Jack Rooke, whose Big Boys was today nominated for a Rose D’Or.

© Paul Stuart

A nationwide casting search is currently underway to find a young actor to play Adrian in the series. 

It comes 40 years after the original ITV adaptation of Sue Townsend’s first hit novel, which starred Gian Sammarco as the title character, Stephen Moore and Julie Walters as his parents George and Pauline and Beryl Reid as his grandma. However it did not make a star of Sammarco, above, who found few roles beyond Mole, and left acting a few years later.

The new series will, like the novel, be set in 1981, as Adrian struggles with being a teenager before the advent of mobile phones and social media. Pauline wrestles with her feminist awakening while George struggles with being made redundant in an unforgiving economy. 

Nicholls said: ‘I happen to be just a little older than Adrian and have adored this book since reading it on publication.

‘It’s a classic piece of comic writing and an incredible piece of ventriloquism on Sue Townsend’s part - how did she know? Adapting Adrian for the screen is an absolute pleasure.’

The series is being made by Big Talk Studios, whose chief executive Kenton Allen said: ‘As a proud state educated Midlands boy myself, I recognised so much of my own upbringing in Sue Townsend’s classic novels and David Nicholls’ beautifully observed adaptation of them – the humour, the heartbreak, the quiet heroism of ordinary lives. 

‘David has once again captured something deeply authentic and universally human, and we’re thrilled to be bringing this iconic book and David's brilliant writing to the screen for generations of Adrian fans new and old.’

Ten half-hour episodes have been commissioned by Lindsay Salt, the BBC’s director of drama, who said: ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole is one of those rare, seminal stories that has captivated generation after generation. David Nicholls has brilliantly distilled the wit, warmth and quiet poignancy of Sue Townsend’s iconic novel, reminding us why Adrian’s voice remains as sharply relevant today as it was in the 1980s. 

‘Times may have changed, but the anxieties, ambitions and wonderfully awkward truths at the heart of Adrian’s world are utterly timeless. Kenton and the team at Big Talk have brought together an exceptional group of writers who, alongside David, have crafted a series that honours the spirit of the original, while opening the door for a whole new audience to fall in love with Adrian Mole.’

Alex Winckler will direct the new series  and the producer is Charlotte Robinson.

Published: 17 Nov 2025