Written by Keri Collins, Super Gran is a family film based on the 1980s TV series of the same name, and it’s just topped this year’s Brit List.
Readers of a certain vintage may vaguely recall Super Gran, a British children’s TV series that ran from 1985 to 1987. About an ordinary grandmother given extraordinary powers when she’s hit by a magical ray, it starred Gudrun Ure as the titular Gran, and featured a title song performed by comedian Billy Connolly.
In an unexpected bit of news, Super Gran has made a belated return thanks to director and screenwriter Keri Collins, whose script – simply called Super Gran – has topped this year’s The Brit List.
For those unfamiliar, The Brit List is an annual compilation of the UK’s most promising unproduced screenplays for TV and film – the idea being to showcase up-and-coming talent, and potentially put the best of those scripts in front of producers who can make them a reality. Previous entries in The Brit List include Debra Davis’ Balance Of Power, which eventually became Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, Kevin Lehane’s boozy Grabbers and David Seidler’s The King’s Speech.
Having received 22 recommendations from The Brit List’s panel of industry insiders, Super Gran tops a list of diverse scripts range from a cool-sounding period body horror called The Golden Radiance Of A Beetle (18 recommendations) and TV comedy drama, The Beautiful Gayme, about a ‘failing gay amateur football team.’
Here’s the summary of Keri Collins’ take on Super Gran:
A dyslexic London schoolkid (12), tired of people saying he’s stupid, is sent to stay with his boring, cantankerous Scottish granny for Christmas. However, he is stunned to discover she has secret superpowers and a secret spy base beneath Loch Ness, as he is taken on an epic adventure in her flying 1980s Mini, doing battle with an arrogant tech bro who wants to bring about instant climate change for profit. It is in this chaos that the boy discovers his dyslexia helps him see the world in a different way, giving him his very own superpower with which to help his Super Gran.
If memory serves, the original 1980s Super Gran rode about on a flying bicycle-helicopter type contraption, so a levitating Mini is definitely an upgrade on that front.
Time will tell whether Super Gran will follow in the footsteps of those scripts mentioned above and get a film or TV adaptation. You can read the full list of this year’s Brit List recommendations on its website.
