I’m thrilled that the BBC has commissioned The Casual Vacancy. I always felt that, if it were to be adapted, this novel was best suited to television and I think the BBC is the perfect home."

The series will be produced through an independent production company operated by Neil Blair, on behalf of The Blair Partnership, and Rick Senat, which shall engage the executive series producer. The deal was struck following discussions between Neil Blair and BBC One Controller Danny Cohen.

J.K. Rowling will collaborate closely with the project, with the number and length of the episodes to be decided once the creative adaptation process has formally begun.

The series has been commissioned for the BBC by Danny Cohen, Controller of BBC One, and Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama, and is expected to air in 2014.

The Casual Vacancy is already a global best-seller and is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

The novel is set in Pagford, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils… Pagford is not what it first seems.

J.K. Rowling says: "I’m thrilled that the BBC has commissioned The Casual Vacancy. I always felt that, if it were to be adapted, this novel was best suited to television and I think the BBC is the perfect home."

Danny Cohen says: "It is thrilling to be bringing the work of J.K. Rowling to BBC One audiences. J.K. Rowling's story-telling is of course peerless in its popularity, and I am looking forward to collaborating with her. This project highlights the ambition and scale of BBC One Drama, as well as the ability of modern television to attract the world's biggest talent and most exciting creative ideas."

Ben Stephenson adds: "We are thrilled to bring J.K. Rowling's extraordinary tapestry of modern Britain to the screen. It's a book of such richness that through humour, social commentary and above all fantastic characters, says something insightful and entertaining about the country we live in."

MO