

Welcome to the Secret World of Malladay
by T M John
Adaptation for Television




Writing has always been more than storytelling for me; it is about building a world that feels as real and immersive as the one we inhabit. With Malladay, I have created a place where history, folklore and adventure collide, a world that continues to evolve beyond the page.
With the trilogy now complete, my focus has shifted to adapting Malladay for the screen.
I have completed the television adaptation of the entire Malladay trilogy. All three series are fully scripted — six episodes per series, each running to forty-five minutes — giving the story the space and structure it needs to breathe, develop and build across eighteen episodes of original drama.
Translating the novels into scripts has been a disciplined process of distillation, reshaping each book into a visual and pace-driven form while preserving the mythology, structure and emotional core that underpin the world.
The television format suits Malladay precisely.
One book per series allows the story to deepen gradually, the characters to grow with the audience, and the world to expand in the way it was always intended to. The result is a complete, screen-ready adaptation of the trilogy from first episode to last.
Research remains central to everything I write. The Mabinogion and Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth continue to inform the foundations of Malladay, anchoring its mythology in the deep-rooted legends of Britain, and particularly of Wales. That grounding allows the fantastical to sit alongside the real with a sense of continuity and belief.
This transition into screenwriting marks the next phase of the project, opening the world of Malladay to new possibilities while remaining true to its origins.
Excerpt from: MALLADAY | Series Two. |. Episode Three - "The Storm"
INT. CAVE OF DOORS - THE GEM CAVERN - CONTINUOUS
The tunnel opens into something vast.
Walls encrusted with diamonds and gemstones of every colour. Glowing faintly. Throwing coloured light across the floor. Beautiful and absolutely still.
Emily stops. Stares. Her hand rises toward the nearest stone before she is aware of it.
GWYDION
(sharp)
Do not touch.
Emily pulls her hand back.
GWYDION
These are bound to the magic of this place. To take even one is to lose yourself to it.
Stench has both hands pressed firmly behind his back. Eyes forward. Not looking at anything.
STENCH
(strained)
Not looking. Definitely not looking.
At the far end of the cavern: three doors.


Excerpt from: MALLADAY | Series Three |. Episode Three - "The Sword"
CUT TO:
EXT. TEMPLE CHURCH COURTYARD - CONTINUOUS
TOM
So. What now?
EMILY
We find the others. Before Morgana's agents do.
MAX
We cannot scatter without direction. We need a way across.
LANCELOT
Grey Wethers.
They look at him.
LANCELOT
Two stone circles on Dartmoor. One aligned for the northern flow. One for the southern. They are not the same. The world does not turn evenly.
EMILY
(already knowing the answer)
So we split.
LANCELOT
Yes.


I can't really tell you what is going on but Nimue, Max, Tom and Emily know what's happening at the Schism...