Sarah Waters' lesbian crime thriller The Paying Guests is being developed for television, bringing the author's final previously unadapted novel closer to the screen. BBC Studios Fiction has optioned the 2014 book, with screenwriter Kayleigh Llewellyn attached to create a new series.

The development is particularly significant because every other novel by Waters has already received a film or television adaptation. Her work has played an important role in bringing lesbian relationships into period drama, combining historical detail with characters whose lives challenge the expectations of their time.

The new project was announced in September 2026, although a broadcaster, cast and filming schedule have not yet been confirmed.

What Is The Paying Guests About?

Set in London in 1922, the novel follows Frances Wray and her widowed mother, who are struggling to maintain their home in Camberwell following the First World War.

Their financial circumstances force them to accept paying lodgers, bringing married couple Lilian and Leonard Barber into a household that has previously been governed by established routines and expectations.

The arrangement creates an increasingly complicated situation when Frances and Lilian develop a secret romantic relationship.

Their attraction must be concealed within a society where lesbian relationships face considerable stigma, while Lilian's marriage and the family's financial circumstances create further pressures.

What begins as an intimate relationship story develops into a psychological crime thriller involving devastating consequences.

Kayleigh Llewellyn Will Adapt the Novel

Kayleigh Llewellyn is attached to write the television adaptation, bringing experience from programmes including In My Skin and Killing Eve.

Her previous work has explored complicated family relationships, identity and personal conflict, themes that are also central to Waters' novel.

BBC Studios Fiction has secured an option on the book, allowing the company to develop it for television. However, that is not the same as a broadcaster commissioning a completed series.

No television channel or streaming service has been attached to the project, while casting and production dates remain to be announced.

Why Sarah Waters' Work Matters to LGBTQ+ Television

Waters has established herself as one of Britain's most influential writers of historical fiction centred on lesbian characters.

Her novels Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith became BBC television dramas, introducing audiences to complex same-sex relationships within richly detailed historical settings.

Fingersmith also inspired the acclaimed film The Handmaiden, which relocated the original story to Japanese-occupied Korea.

Other adaptations of Waters' work have explored psychological suspense, class and the restrictions placed on women in earlier periods.

The Paying Guests offers another opportunity to combine those themes, with its central lesbian relationship driving both the emotional and criminal elements of the story.

What Happens Next?

The project remains in development, with further decisions needed before filming can begin.

For readers familiar with Waters' previous adaptations, the prospect of seeing The Paying Guests on screen represents an important addition to her television legacy.

Its combination of forbidden romance, social class and psychological suspense could make it a compelling period drama, provided the adaptation progresses to production.