MP Jess Phillips‘ light-hearted autobiography Everywoman is to be turned into TV drama by the people behind Years and Years and Black Mirror.

The Manchester-based RED production company  will “explore how an engaged woman can make a difference in today’s very complicated world” as it captures the life of the outspoken Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley.

Phillips said she was ‘utterly thrilled’ at the decision to sell the rights to her book and have her life turned into a television drama.

The Brummie politician’s journey to Parliament depicted in her book Everywoman: One Woman’s Truth About Speaking the Truth will be translated to the small screen by a the company behind successful hits including Happy Valley and Queer as Folk.

Jess Phillips MP in Birmingham in March 2019Adam Yosef
Jess Phillips MP in Birmingham in March 2019

The Manchester-based firm will create a drama that “explores how an engaged woman can make a difference in today’s very complicated world”.

Phillips has earned a reputation in the political world for speaking her mind, having recently clashed with a protester over LGBT lessons in schools.

She’s also become notorious for locking horns with other MPs, famously claiming she told Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott to “Fuck off” (a claim Abbott denied ever happened) and that she’d “knife” Corbyn in the front and back.

Philip’s has also been on the receiving end of a tirade of abuse from online trolls and far-right political figures, with threats of rape – including 600 in a single night – and vicious abuse directed her way almost daily. A close friend of the late Jo Cox, the attacks on Phillips have often left her feeling vulnerable and unsafe in her job.

A long-term campaigner for women’s rights and former Women’s Aid employee, Phillip’s has also herself been criticised for failing to represent inclusive and intersectional feminism at times, especially for her ‘attacks’ on Diane Abbott.

Speaking about her life being turned into a drama, Phillips said:

“They make the kind of television that truly represents people and events as they are and that was deeply important to me.”

“The story of women in politics is complex and nuanced and intriguing, and it’s a story that needs telling.”

Writing on social media, she added that her husband and children had come up with some “wild choices” about who should play her in the adaptation.

Jess Phillips upon hearing she had won the Birmingham Yardley Parliamentary seat in May 2015Adam Yosef
Jess Phillips upon hearing she had won the Birmingham Yardley Parliamentary seat in May 2015
Jess Phillips with her husband (right) in 2015, on the night she became Member of Parliament for Birmingham YardleyAdam Yosef
Jess Phillips with her husband (right) in 2015, on the night she became Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley

Nicola Shindler, executive producer of RED, called Phillips an “inspirational woman who fights for what she believes in and isn’t afraid to be honest and outspoken.

“Using her book as a source we’re excited to create a drama that explores how an engaged woman can make a difference in today’s very complicated world.”

The outspoken backbencher has served on the Commons’ women and equalities select committee.


WATCH: The moment Jess Phillips was elected as an MP:

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