Mark Gatiss' Vesuvius Club Headed To The Small Screen!

Spectacular news in today's Guardian: Mark Gatiss' Vesuvius Club is currently being adapted into a television series by the BBC. Gatiss, of course, is one of the driving forces behind the stellar League of Gentlemen and, since the League went on hiatus, has been by far the busiest of the quartet: writing a new radio series for the BBC, starring in numerous other shows and movies, writing for the revived Doctor Who - which he has an acting role in this season - and writing a pair of novels revolving around his hero Lucifer Box.

The first of those novels is The Vesuvius Club which, too my knowledge, is currently available only in the UK. Trust me on this one, though, and if you're looking for a good time just go ahead and order it in. Box is a brillaint creation: a bisexual - and sexually voracious - Edwardian portrait painter who doubles as a secret agent and assassin for the monarchy. In The Vesuvius Club - the opening entry in a trilogy that will eventaully capture Box at three different stages of his life - Box is sorting out the mystery of an apocalyptic, end of the world cult group that is kidnapping prominent vulcanologists. It's a bit Sherlock Holmes, a bit Man From U.N.C.L.E. and all of it very smart, very clever and very, very funny. Gatiss is a superbly gifted writer and I've been saying from the first moment that I picked up Vesuvius that his creation is practically crying to be put on screen. I'd have preferred a feature, myself, but with the Beeb planning on handling the entire trilogy I'm a happy boy ...