MP, Jess Phillips' Book Optioned for TV

MP Jess Phillips was born and raised in Birmingham and still lives in the city. Before becoming an MP, Phillips worked with victims of sexual abuse, domestic violence and human trafficking, and she continues to speak up for them from her current position.

Phillips was also one of the women who launched the #NotTheCost campaign to combat the violence aimed at politically active women as well as the ‘Recl@im the Internet’ campaign which challenges abuse online. In 2015, the very politically active, Jess Phillips was elected as the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley and re-elected in the snap-election of 2017. What’s clear is, in every role and aspect of her life, Jess Phillips strives towards creating a more equal society.

In 2017, Jess Phillip published her first book, Everywoman: One Woman’s Truth About Speaking the Truth. The honest, outspoken, feminist powerhouse, Jess Phillips writes a call to arms to all women, telling us to stand together and speak the truth in her courageous and funny, part biography part manifesto. “We’re women and we’re kickass. And that’s the truth.” – reads the book’s blurb

Given the abuse Jess Phillips has sustained, from a political candidate over the past few years and the insults thrown at her via Twitter from the general public, this inspirational, rallying book for women seems even more apt now than when it was published. It is perhaps, partly for this reason that the book has been picked up for adaptation.

Everywoman has been optioned by Manchester-based, RED Production Company, who are known for countless hit TV dramas including; Happy Valley, Cucumber, Queer as Folk, and most recently, Years and Years, which is currently showing on BBC One. The drama adaptation of Everywoman will be co-produced and co-developed between RED and Lucy Dyke, an executive producer whose credits include; Black Mirror and Ripper Street.

The Executive producer and Chief Executive of RED Production Company, Nicola Shindler, explained, “Jess is an inspirational woman who fights for what she believes in and isn’t afraid to be honest and outspoken. Using her book as a source we’re excited to create a drama that explores how an engaged woman can make a difference in today’s very complicated world.”

While the author, Jess Phillips herself added “I’m utterly thrilled to be working with RED, a company based outside of London led by Nicola Shindler, and with Lucy Dyke co-producing. They make the kind of television that truly represents people and events as they are and that was deeply important to me. The story of women in politics is complex and nuanced and intriguing, and it’s a story that needs telling.”

There are currently no casting, filming or release date details but we are already eagerly awaiting the dramatization of Jess Phillips’ book and until it hits our screens, Everywoman is available at all good bookshops and online retailers.