Purvis & Wade to adapt Len Deighton novel, Variety says

Robert Wade, left, and Neal Purvis.

Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who’ve worked as writers on the last six James Bond movies, will adapt the Len Deighton novel SS-GB for the BBC, VARIETY REPORTED.

The BBC production will consist of five one-hour episodes, Variety said. Here’s an excerpt:

It is set in an imaginary Britain controlled by the Nazis, if Germany had occupied the country. It centers on a police detective caught between the Nazis and the British resistance.

Purvis and Wade were summoned earlier this year to rewrite John Logan’s script for Bond 24, Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail reported in June. The duo delivered a draft that was “substantially different” that Logan’s original, Bamigboye reported July 31.

Purvis and Wade originally weren’t to have been involved with Bond 24 after working on 007 films starting with The World Is Not Enough in 1999 and through 2012’s Skyfall. The Bond 24 script was additional tweaked by playwright Jez Butterworth, ACCORDING TO A NEW YORKER PROFILE OF BUTTERWORTH. Butterworth also did uncredited work on Skyfall, the magazine said.