Sebastian Faulks to present The Secret Life Of The Novel

Sebastian Faulks

In 2010 the BBC will be celebrating the power of the British novel with a major four-part documentary series presented by best selling novelist and James Bond centenary author Sebastian Faulks (The Girl At The L’ion Dor, Birdsong, Devil May Care).

The Secret Life Of The Novel will look at the history of the novel through its characters—each episode focusing on a different archetype and looking at how they have developed over the centuries: The Hero, The Lover, The Snob, The Villain.

Journeying around the country, with the occasional foray abroad, Sebastian will use his unique personal knowledge of characterisation to get under the skin of some familiar and not-so-familiar characters of British literature.

From Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe to Martin Amis’s John Self; Jane Austen’s Emma to Monica Ali’s Chanu; Sebastian will put them all on the psychiatrist’s couch.

Mark Bell, Arts Commissioning Editor, commented: “Sebastian is an insider, a novelist with a real understanding of the craft. Booking him to front a four-part series on BBC Two about how characterisation works is really exciting. It demonstrates the type of bold arts programming the BBC is committed to delivering.”

The Secret Life Of The Novel is a four x 60-minute series produced by BBC Vision.

Executive producer is Basil Comely and the commissioning editor is Mark Bell.

The series is expected to transmit in Spring 2010 and will start shooting this Autumn.

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