Douglas Stuart’s 2022 novel Young Mungo looks set to follow in the footsteps of Euphoria, as A24 have announced they’ll be adapting the story for the BBC, with Stuart himself taking on the role of screenwriter.
Featured on our ‘queer books to read in 2022’, Young Mungo is the story of two boys, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James, who live on warring housing estates separated by their sectarian values. The novel is set in the working-class communities of Glasgow, and focuses on the tensions across their religious divide. Despite the differing backgrounds, Mungo and James fall in love and have to hide their relationship from their families, especially Mungo’s older brother, gang leader Hamish.
The news comes only mere months after A24 announced that they would be adapting Stuart’s first novel, the Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain. Set in the 80s, it focuses on the relationship of Hugh “Shuggie” Bain and his mother Agnes, who suffers from alcoholism, finding solace from a failing marriage in her addiction. The older Bain siblings abandon Shuggie to care for their mother on his own, while at the same time he struggles with a burgeoning sexuality, not knowing how to be a “normal” boy.
There’s no release date or casting announcement for either series yet, but considering past BBC book adaptations (think Sally Rooney’s Normal People) we’re sure they’ll make some buzzy choices.
Join Dazed Club and be part of our world! You get exclusive access to events, parties, festivals and our editors, as well as a free subscription to Dazed for a year. Join for £5/month today.
