EXCLUSIVE: Yeardley Smith’s Paperclip Ltd is looking to turn Tom Wood’s forensic science bestseller Ruxton: The First Modern Murder into an unscripted podcast and a limited scripted series.
The company, which Smith, best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson, set up with Ben Cornwell, optioned the rights to Wood’s book, which was shortlisted for Saltire Society of Scotland’s National Book Awards 2022.
While book to TV adaptations is a well-trodden path, adding an unscripted podcast into the mix is an unusual step, but comes as Hollywood is stepping up its interest in the audio medium.
The move comes as Paperclip Ltd’s flagship true crime podcast Small Town Dicks, which launched in 2017, has seen 1M downloads per month.
Ruxton: The First Modern Murder describes the 1935 disappearance of a glamorous young wife and her dutiful maid, whose deaths would result in one of the most complex investigations the world had ever seen. The gruesome murders captured headlines worldwide at the time, and behind-the-scenes, scientific history was being made through the groundbreaking work of Scottish forensic scientists who developed new techniques that would change the course of detective work globally for the next near-century.
Smith and Cornwell will exec produce the podcast with Wood and are also developing the book as a limited series.
Paperclip Ltd is behind films such as John Hyams-directed thriller Alone, Gossamer Folds starring Alexandra Grey and Jackson Robert Scott and Mike Fleiss’ upcoming horror film Possessions.
“Tom is a master storyteller,” said Yeardley Smith. “With Ruxton he’s deftly made the history of modern forensics read like a true-crime thriller. I can’t wait for audiences to hear the podcast.”
“I am delighted to be working with Yeardley, Ben and the team at Paperclip Ltd in the development of Ruxton,” added Wood. “This is an important story which has been my privilege to tell. It deserves the widest audience, and a podcast with the team that brought the world Small Town Dicks is a great place to start.”
Paperclip Ltd is represented by CAA.