Andy McNab is the pseudonym used by a former British solider who, after writing the autobiographical Bravo Two Zero (which detailed a failed SAS mission during the first Gulf War and has had its veracity repeatedly questioned), began writing war-related fiction. His Boy Soldier series - aimed, like everything else these days, at "young adults" - currently consists of four books, and is wildly popular in the UK (only the first installment has been published in the US). And, since popular kids' series are like catnip to movie studios, it's no surprise that BBC Films have picked up the rights to the first two books (Boy Solder and Payback). The nice thing is that this particular series is uncommonly badass, considering that it was written for kids: The first novel, for example, is about a 17-year-old boy who is hell-bent on tracking down his (supposedly) traitorous, drug-dealing grandfather, a man the British government mistakenly believes is dead. Nice, huh? I mean, that sounds like a Bourne movie, except with some kid in place of Matt Damon.

McNab and his writing partner Robert Rigby (whose background is mainly in television) are currently working on adapting the first book, and a BBC Films spokesperson is describing the film as representing a new "commitment to mak[ing] more ambitious films for wider audiences." Whether that means it's something we're likely to see on this side of the Atlantic, however, remains to be seen.