Two Brothers Pictures is expanding its development slate with two adaptations: a new version of the BBC wartime drama Tenko and a television series based on the 2011 romantic comedy Chalet Girl.
The British drama label, whose productions include The Assassin and Fleabag, has largely concentrated on original concepts. After adding to its team, however, the company is moving further into optioning and adapting existing properties.
Founded by Jack and Harry Williams and part of Banijay Entertainment, Two Brothers has already brought writers aboard both projects. Anna Symon, whose credits include Mrs. Wilson, is writing the new Tenko, while Ride or Die writer Tessa Coates is handling the Chalet Girl adaptation.
Tenko returns to development
The original Tenko was produced for the BBC in the UK and ABC in Australia. It ran for three seasons between 1981 and 1984, followed by a special in 1985.
Beginning in 1942, the drama followed British, Australian and Dutch civilian women imprisoned in a fictional Japanese internment camp near Singapore. Its story focused on the women enduring brutal conditions, supporting one another and fighting to survive.
Two Brothers approached original producer and creator Lavinia Warner about developing the drama for a modern television audience. Sarah Hammond, the company’s chief creative officer, told Deadline that Warner’s close connections to the women who had been held in the wartime camp, as well as their families, made her particularly careful about entrusting the series to a new team.
“She didn’t want to hand the reins over to just anyone, but she was really excited to work with us to bring it back,” Hammond said.
Warner’s involvement gives the project a direct link to the creator of the earlier series, while Symon is tasked with writing its new incarnation. No further production or release details were confirmed in the supplied material.
Chalet Girl targets a new adult audience
Two Brothers is taking a different approach with Chalet Girl, which is being developed as a television adaptation aimed at the “new adult” market.
The original 2011 romantic-comedy film starred Felicity Jones and Ed Westwick. Two Brothers is working with the movie’s original producers on the television version, with Coates attached to write.
Hammond said the project forms part of the company’s effort to explore genres it has not previously tackled. She identified the central character, romantic elements, humor, setting and tone as key reasons the film could translate into a new adult series.
“What the team loved about the original film was the spiky lead character who felt brilliant and funny, and it’s got all the moving parts of a new adult story,” Hammond said. “It’s got the sex and the love and the exotic locations and it has a brilliant tone and a real voice.”
She added that applying the company’s creative perspective to the material could make the adaptation “really exciting.”
ShowBiz Take
The two projects reveal a wider shift for Two Brothers Pictures. Rather than abandoning the original ideas on which it has mainly focused, the company is adding recognizable properties to its development pipeline and using them to enter distinctly different areas of television.
Tenko brings historical weight and the participation of its original creator, along with a survival story centered on a multinational group of civilian women. Chalet Girl, by contrast, gives the label an entry into the new adult space through a romantic comedy already associated with a sharply drawn lead character and a defined tone.
That contrast is significant: one project revisits a three-season wartime drama that later produced a special, while the other turns a standalone 2011 film into a series. Together, they show Two Brothers testing how its approach can be applied across genres as it steps up its work with existing intellectual property.
What Happens Next?
Both adaptations remain in the works, with Symon writing Tenko and Coates writing Chalet Girl. Warner is working with Two Brothers on the return of her wartime drama, while the original producers of Chalet Girl are involved in developing its new adult television version.