Buccaneer Media in Development on ‘The Blade Artist’

(6th October 2021 - London) Buccaneer Media the London-headquartered production company behind ‘Marcella’ (ITV/ Netflix) and ‘Crime’ (Britbox) today announces it is in development to produce a TV adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s ‘The Blade Artist’.

‘The Blade Artist’ will see the return of Robert Carlyle (‘Trainspotting’, ‘T2: Trainspotting’, ‘The Full Monty’, ‘The World Is Not Enough’) to reprise his role as the infamous, ultra-violent Francis Begbie in a 6 x 60’ TV adaptation of Welsh’s 2016 novel.

Irvine Welsh, Robert Carlyle and Buccaneer’s Tony Wood and Richard Tulk-Hart will serve as Executive Producers.

“Begbie is Begbie and Bobby is the long-term friend and collaborator who inspirationally brought the character to life with his incendiary portrayal. To say I’m excited at us reuniting creatively on this project is obviously something of an understatement” said Irvine Welsh.

“Over 20 years ago I was privileged to be asked to play a character that subsequently became such a huge part of my life. The prospect of working with Irvine and bringing Francis Begbie to life once more is an absolute gift” said Robert Carlyle.

Buccaneer is also currently in post-production on ‘Crime’, Irvine Welsh’s first novel adapted for TV for Britbox. The company also has several soon-to-be-announced projects in development with international partners.