Prodco Hell Fire! options rights to RC Bridgestock’s Charley Mann detective novels

Robert and Carol Bridgestock write under the pen name RC Bridgestock

Production outfit Hell Fire!, based in the UK city of Leeds, has optioned the rights to the bestselling DI Charley Mann novels by RC Bridgestock.

In addition to developing the books into a TV drama called Mann (working title), the company is also developing several TV drama and documentary concepts based on the career of Robert Bridgestock, a former head of CID who later became an author. He and his wife, Carol, pen novels under the name RC Bridgestock.

Robert and Carol have a combined 47 years of experience with West Yorkshire Police and have consulted on multiple crime and policing TV series including Happy Valley and The Beast Must Die through their TV consultancy firm Walking the Line.

The drama series will follow unconventional female detective protagonist Charley Mann, an edgy and distinctive character who pushes the boundaries of the genre with traits typically associated with hardboiled male characters.

Hell Fire! is also collaborating with Walking the Line to develop true-crime docu-drama series Murder Box (working title), examining some of Robert Bridgestock’s most high-profile criminal cases.