Yellow Bird, Hot Coals to bring Nell Pattison’s deaf community crime novels to TV

The UK arm of Banijay-backed Swedish production label Yellow Bird has struck a deal with Hot Coals Productions to develop and coproduce screen adaptations of partially deaf author Nell Pattison’s series of books.

Nell Pattison

The Silent House, Silent Night and The Silent Suspect will be developed by Yellow Bird UK and Hot Coals, which specialises in bringing TV, theatre and film to deaf audiences. Screenwriter Glen Laker is on board as showrunner.

Bestselling author Pattison’s books centre on British Sign Language interpreter Paige Northwood and her deaf sister as they solve crimes that happen within the deaf community.

The TV deal was brokered by Kristina Moore at United Talent Agency on behalf of Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment.

Hot Coals Productions heads Clare-Louise English and Jo Sargeant said in a joint statement: “So often in TV and film, a deaf character is parachuted into a hearing story, with no other deaf people around them. With these stories set firmly within the deaf community, it gives us an opportunity to show the breadth of deafness and the huge variation in lived experiences.

“From the moment we read Nell’s books, we knew we had to make them into a TV series and we are so excited to be partnering with Yellow Bird, who understand the importance of representation.”

Berna Levin, creative director at Yellow Bird UK, added: “This is an incredibly important and exciting project for us and we are thrilled to be partnering with Clare-Louise and Jo at Hot Coals. With the deaf community at the heart of these books, it will allow us to bring underrepresented talent in the TV industry to the forefront – both in front [of the camera] and behind the scenes.”