A new Alex Rider - and a TV series to come

Anthony Horowitz's new Alex Rider book, Never Say Die (Walker Books), has launched with the announcement that a new Alex Rider television series is also in the pipeline.

The series is being developed for ITV by Eleventh Hour television and Horowitz says the script has inspired him to focus the next Alex Rider novel on older characters. Talking about his planned sequel to Never Say Die, called Nightshade, Horowitz said, "I have the plot already, it's in my head and I could start writing that tomorrow. "The book's focus will be Mrs Jones, the deputy head of MI6. The fact that it's an adult character has been partly inspired by the television series of Alex Rider that's being developed for ITV." The television series will be presented as event dramas for family audiences, rather than focusing on teenaged boys who the novels currently target. Horowitz said, "They have made the adult characters as interesting as the child characters, that's what they are trying to do with the series, and I thought I could do something like that with the next Alex Rider book and open up the world to adult characters." Also look out for a book of Alex Rider short stories - the writing of which helped inspire Horowitz to pen Never Say Die. You can read our full interview with Anthony Horowitz here: