No, really. This year it’s the centenary of Mills & Boon. You know those books your nan used to have and you’d flick through just looking for the word “nipple” or “erect”? Yeah, you did.
Well, the BBC has commissioned a drama celebrating the anniversary. It’s being written by Emma Frost, whose previous credits include Shameless, Murder in Suburbia and Casualty.
[That book cover is the real cover, but a fake title, courtesy of the hilarious Longmire does Romance Novels.]
Ben Stephenson, head of drama commissioning at the BBC, says the 90-minute drama will “interweave the stories of three very different women, and shed light on the impact and influence the books had on women’s lives over the last century.”
Based on the lives of the actual people behind the scenes at the publishing house, including Mary, wife of Charles Boon, Mills & Boon’s co-founder (“While Charles struggled to establish his business in London, he and his wife were fighting another battle – in the bedroom.”) and Kirstie, a university lecturer in literature and feminist studies (“Bored and frustrated, she is lecturing to students on the Mills & Boon phenomenon when a young stranger enters her life.”), the producers claim it will be “very raunchy”.
It will air this autumn on BBC4 and sounds like must-see TV, no? No?
