Kids author J.J. Arcanjo’s Crookhaven books will soon have a second life on the small screen, thanks to a new live-action series commission from BBC Children’s and Education. 

BBC Studios Kids & Family will produce and distribute this eight x 45-minute adaptation, which has been slated for an early 2026 launch on the Beeb’s iPlayer service. Filming is set to take place in Northern Ireland this summer.

Hachette publishes the Crookhaven middle-grade books, which have been translated into 20 languages. Four titles are currently available at retail, with a fifth due out in August. 

Like its source material, BBC Studios Kids & Family’s show concept is set at a school where young thieves sharpen their skills in deception, forgery, infiltration and “crimnastics”—but with an emphasis on using these abilities for good. The central characters in the plot include a pickpocketing genius named Gabriel who develops a rivalry with the headmaster’s daughter Penelope.

Justin Young (Sanditon) adapted Arcanjo’s books for television and will executive produce with Mark Freeland (Phoenix Rise). Crookhaven is banking on a blend of coming-of-age themes and action-packed sequences to attract a wide kids & family audience. Patricia Hidalgo, director of BBC Children’s and Education, noted that the show is expected to build international appeal while remaining “quintessentially British” at its core.