HarperCollins Publishers has acquired World English Language rights to T.V: Big Adventures on the Small Screen, by Britain’s best-loved comedian, Peter Kay. Managing Director Kate Elton and Publishing Director Joel Simons negotiated the deal for HarperNonFiction with Charlotte Robertson, at Robertson Murray. T.V. will be published in September 2023 and supported by a huge marketing and publicity campaign.
T.V. marks Peter’s long-awaited return to the page, with a nostalgic love letter to a childhood spent idolising ‘the wooden box in the corner of the front room’ that went on to inspire a lifetime’s work in the industry. T.V. is an incredible jaunt through 40 years of television: from tea-making in Granada, to behind the scenes on Phoenix Nights, Max and Paddy and his BAFTA-winning turn as John Redmond in Car Share. Charming, funny and utterly unforgettable, this is Peter Kay back and at his best.
The Bolton-born comedian announced his Better Late Than Never tour last year after a twelve-year hiatus and promptly broke the internet and every UK record going in a single day. Peter’s first book – The Sound of Laughter – is still the biggest-selling hardback autobiography of all time, selling well over a million copies across all print editions since publication in 2007, and also holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest-selling live comedy tour, playing to a total of 1.2 million people.
Peter Kay says: ‘I’d wanted for years to write about my obsession for TV and working in it. It’s been such a massive pleasure recalling the adventures I’ve had over the last twenty-five years both in front and behind the camera, and I hope people will enjoy reading about the journey as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.’
Kate Elton says: ‘All of us at HarperNonFiction are absolutely over the moon to be publishing Peter. He’s quite simply one of the most beloved entertainers in Britain, and TV is a hilariously funny, wonderfully warm journey through the popular culture of the last forty years. Chock-full of TV gossip, brilliant one-liners and, of course, irresistible observational comedy, it’s exactly the book every Peter Kay fan has been waiting for.’
