Nick Cave’s darkly comic novel is becoming a six-part series. 

Sky have announced that Matt Smith (Doctor Who, House of the Dragon) is to take the title role in an adaptation of Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro.

The series begins filming in Spring 2024 across the south of England, presumably after Smith’s forthcoming West End run in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.

The Death of Bunny Munro

Following his wife Libby’s suicide, sex addict, door-to-door beauty product salesman and self-professed lothario Bunny Munro finds himself saddled with a young son and only a loose concept of parenting. Together with nine-year-old Bunny Junior he embarks on an epic and increasingly out-of-control road trip across Southern England as the two struggle to contain their grief in very different ways.

The series comes from writer Pete Jackson (Somewhere Boy) and Clerkenwell Films, in association with Sky Studios. The director is Isabella Eklöf (Industry).

Petra Fried, Ed Macdonald and Emily Harrison are Executive Producers for Clerkenwell Films, with Manpreet Dosanjh (Sky Studios). As are Pete Jackson, Matt Smith, Nick Cave and Isabella Eklöf.

Matt Smith said:

“To work alongside Nick Cave on The Death of Bunny Munro feels like a great honour. It’s a brilliant exploration of love, grief, and chaos. At its heart a deep, difficult, and tender story about a father and son, coping with loss and change. Clerkenwell Films and Sky feels like the perfect home to make such a bold story and Pete has delivered such wonderful scripts, both funny and heart breaking in equal measure. I can’t wait to collaborate with Isabella and begin the journey with everyone at Clerkenwell.”

Nick Cave added:

“Finally, someone with the courage to take on this unholy tale. I am thrilled that Sky and Clerkenwell Films are bringing Bunny to life, in all his flawed glory, and I can think of nobody better than Matt Smith to play him.”

The Death of Bunny Munro will air on Sky Atlantic and the NOW streaming service in the UK.