Neil Gaiman’s 2013 novel Ocean at the End of the Lane is getting a TV adaptation courtesy of Simon Pegg, the actor, comedian and writer behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.


Speaking at a TV conference in London, Pegg, along with his long-time collaborator Nick Frost, confirmed he was working on the project, as well as an adaptation of the 1967 sci-fi novel The Technicolor Time Machine, by Harry Harrison.

Gaiman’s novel tells the story of an unnamed man who goes back to his hometown to attend a funeral, only to rediscover memories of events that happened 40 years in the past. As with much of Gaiman’s work, the book leans heavily into supernatural themes.

While on stage at C21’s Content London, Pegg also talked about the “really, really fertile” creative potential that TV offers, especially in comparison to the movie industry. “Theatrical cinema, sadly, appears to be dying,” the Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation star said.

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Pegg is not done with film work just yet, however. He has recently earned acclaim for his turn in the independent film Lost Transmissions, and will play the lead role in Inheritance, an upcoming thriller.

Neil Gaiman’s oeuvre has proved popular source material for TV adaptation recently: earlier this year, Amazon Prime released a miniseries based on Gaiman’s Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett).

Amazon has also adapted American Gods as a series, and Netflix has commissioned an adaptation of Gaiman’s Sandman books, perhaps the writer’s most beloved work.


The TV adaptation is still in the very early stages of production, so no further details have been made clear – except that it will be produced by Stolen Picture, the production company established by Frost and Pegg in 2017.