Enid Blyton's Famous Five set for West End adventure?

Jolly good fun! Enid Blyton's Famous Five are set to receive a West End stage outing courtesy of Old Vic Productions.

According to the Sunday Times, the company has secured the rights from Blyton's publisher Hachette, and "hopes the production will be running within two years".

The show, which will "probably be a musical", will be hoping to ride the wave of successful children's book adaptations in the West End, including Matilda, Hetty Feather and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Old Vic Productions director Bruce Walker said: "We are working very hard on this. We want to stay faithful to what the books represent, but we also recognise that the show must work for a contemporary audience. It’s all about getting that balance."

It won't be the first time The Famous Five series, known in the popular imagination for their quaint portrayal of childhood including the gang's fondness for lashings of ginger beer, have been adapted for the stage. A musical version was seen at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick in 2009.