According to Deadline, Benedict Cumberbatch’s SunnyMarch production company has secured the TV rights to The Way of All Flesh, an upcoming historical novel taking place in the medical world of Edinburgh, Scotland during the nineteenth century.
Written by Ambrose Parry, a pseudonym for author Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist Marisa Haetzman, The Way of All Flesh takes place in 1847 and follows a medical stunt called Will Raven who is about to start his apprenticeship with the brilliant professor of midwifery, Dr James Young Simpson. At Simpson’s clinic, he meets Sarah Fisher, housemaid and unofficial clinical assistant to Dr. Simpson, and together they find themselves propelled into the darkest shadows of Edinburgh’s underworld after a string of mysterious deaths rock the city.
“Marisa and Chris have crafted a brilliant world from the real lives of remarkable men and women who made their mark in the history books and changed the face of medicine,” said Claire Marshall, executive producer at SunnyMarch. “We are incredibly excited about expanding on the themes and characters to make a bold, ambitious and thrilling drama series about young, restless, and flawed junior doctors. It’s a story about identity, sex and ambition shot through with a sense of modernity.”
SunnyMarch recently produced the BBC adaptationof The Child In Time, and its next TV project Patrick Melrose will air on Sky Atlantic and Showtime in May. Watch the latest trailer here.