Exclusive: Peter Ackroyd’s The History of England is headed to the screen after Pulse Films optioned the fiction and non-fiction rights to the epic six-part book series.

The author has published five of the six planned books, which cover topics from Stonehenge to Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, William of Orange’s accession through to the Regency era, the Battle of Waterloo and the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. The five books are Foundation, Tudors, Rebellion, Revolution and Dominion, which has just been published. The sixth book is set to be published in 2021.

The books are published by Pan MacMillan in the UK and St Martin’s Press in the U.S. Pulse Films is represented by Scott Lonker at CAA and the deal was negotiated by Tim O’Shea on behalf of Pulse Films and agent Lucy Fawcett at Sheil Land Associates. Pulse Films is best known for feature documentaries such as Xy Chelsea,...