FremantleMedia To Adapt Robert Harris’ ‘Munich’ As UK/German Series

From features to TV projects, World War II is a big focus for creatives this season, and particularly as we head into Mipcom. To wit: FremantleMedia’s Euston Films and UFA Fiction are set to co-produce the adaptation of Robert Harris’ latest novel, Munich. The spy thriller will be filmed in the UK and Germany. It’s a story about treason and conscience, loyalty and betrayal, and is filled with real-life characters – Hitler, Chamberlain, Mussolini, Daladier – and events that changed history.

Best-selling novelist Harris has visited WWII before and this time he fronts the story with an Englishman and a German struggling against the Nazis. As Chamberlain’s plane judders over the Channel and Hitler’s train steams relentlessly south from Berlin, two young men travel with secrets of their own. Hugh Legat is one of Chamberlain’s private secretaries and Paul Hartmann is a German diplomat and member of the anti-Hitler resistance. Great friends at Oxford before Hitler came to power, they haven’t seen one another since they were last in Munich six years earlier. Now, as the future of Europe hangs in the balance, their paths are destined to cross again.

The book was published by Hutchinson, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on September 21 and has been sold in 20 languages so far. It debuted on the original fiction book sales chart at No. 2 and has received strong reviews.

Harris’ previous novels include the Cicero Trilogy – Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator, Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index and An Officer And A Spy. Several of his books have been filmed, including The Ghost, which was adapted by Roman Polanski.

Munich is the latest title to join FremantleMedia’s roster of high-end drama series that includes The Dublin Murders for BBC One and History’s The Breach: Inside The Impeachment Of Bill Clinton.