15 Popular TV Shows You Didn’t Realize Were Actually Based on Books

15 Popular TV Shows You Didn’t Realize Were Actually Based on Books

Ever fallen in love with a TV show only to discover it was inspired by a book? Many hit series began as novels before making their way to our screens. While some adaptations are well-known, others might surprise you. Here’s a look at 15 popular TV shows with literary origins you might not have realized.

1. Dexter

Blood spatter analyst by day, vigilante killer by night. The chilling Showtime series that captivated audiences for eight seasons sprang from Jeff Lindsay’s 2004 novel “Darkly Dreaming Dexter.”

While the TV show eventually charted its own path, the first season closely follows the book’s premise of a forensic expert who channels his homicidal urges toward criminals who’ve escaped justice. Lindsay went on to write eight Dexter novels in total.

Fun fact: In the books, Dexter’s “Dark Passenger” is portrayed more literally as a separate entity, almost supernatural in nature, rather than just a psychological metaphor as depicted in the show.

2. The Queen’s Gambit

Netflix’s 2020 sensation about chess prodigy Beth Harmon wasn’t just clever screenwriting. The limited series that sparked a global chess renaissance was adapted from Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel of the same name.

Both versions follow an orphaned girl’s journey through the male-dominated chess world while battling addiction. Tevis, himself a chess enthusiast, crafted a compelling story about genius and self-destruction long before it became a streaming hit.

Interestingly, though Beth Harmon is fictional, many chess players praised the authenticity of the games portrayed in both the book and series, as Tevis consulted with professional players to ensure accuracy.

3. Killing Eve

The cat-and-mouse game between Eve Polastri and Villanelle had viewers hooked from the start. What many fans missed is that the thrilling spy drama was based on Luke Jennings’ novella series, beginning with “Codename Villanelle.”

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who developed the first season, took creative liberties with the adaptation while maintaining the core of the obsessive relationship between the intelligence agent and the psychopathic assassin. The books feature the same electric tension but with different plot developments.

Unlike the television series, the book version of Villanelle has a more detailed backstory, including a traumatic childhood in Russia and training by a secret organization.

4. One Day

Before it became a tear-jerking Netflix series in 2023, One Day was a beloved 2009 novel by David Nicholls that also inspired a 2011 film. The story visits Emma and Dexter on the same date—July 15—over two decades, tracking their evolving relationship.

Nicholls’ novel became a cultural phenomenon, selling over five million copies worldwide. The Netflix adaptation closely follows the book’s structure and emotional beats, capturing the bittersweet nature of time and relationships.

The author was inspired to write the novel after reading Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, wanting to create a modern love story with the same emotional impact and sense of fate and timing.

5. Call the Midwife

The heart-warming BBC drama about midwives in London’s East End during the 1950s and 60s comes straight from reality. Jennifer Worth’s memoir “Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s” provided the foundation for the beloved series.

Worth wrote her experiences working with the Anglican nuns of the Community of St. John the Divine in Poplar. The early seasons closely follow her accounts, though later seasons expanded beyond her writings as the show continued.

Jennifer Worth sadly passed away in 2011, shortly before the first episode aired. She had been consulted during production but never got to see how her stories would captivate millions and shine light on midwifery history.

6. Mindhunter

David Fincher’s gripping Netflix series about the early days of FBI criminal profiling wasn’t pure fiction. The show draws from “Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit,” a non-fiction book by former FBI agent John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker.

Douglas, who inspired the character of Holden Ford, pioneered interviewing imprisoned serial killers to understand their psychology and develop profiling techniques. Many of the infamous criminals portrayed in the show were actually interviewed by Douglas during his groundbreaking career.

The real John Douglas nearly died from viral encephalitis during his FBI tenure – a dramatic event that was incorporated into the show’s storyline when Holden Ford collapses from panic attacks at the end of season one.

7. Not Dead Yet

ABC’s comedy starring Gina Rodriguez as a journalist who sees dead people originated from a very different source. The show is loosely inspired by Alexandra Potter’s novel “Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up,” though with significant changes.

While the book focuses on a British woman returning to London after a failed relationship, the show transplants the concept to American soil and adds the supernatural element of the protagonist seeing the ghosts of people she writes obituaries for. Potter’s novel has a more grounded approach to midlife crisis and starting over.

Alexandra Potter is actually a bestselling author known for her women’s fiction that often blends humor with magical elements, making the supernatural twist in the TV adaptation somewhat fitting to her writing style.

8. Bones

The long-running Fox series starring Emily Deschanel wasn’t just creative scriptwriting. The forensic anthropology adventures were inspired by Kathy Reichs’ series of novels featuring protagonist Temperance Brennan.

In a meta twist, the TV character Temperance Brennan writes novels about a fictional forensic anthropologist named… Kathy Reichs! The show’s cases and scientific methods were influenced by Reichs’ own career as a forensic anthropologist, lending authenticity to the fictional procedures.

Unlike many adaptations, Kathy Reichs was deeply involved in the show’s production as both producer and writer. She ensured the science remained plausible even when dramatized for television, and occasionally wrote episodes herself.

9. M*A*S*H

Before becoming one of television’s most beloved series, M*A*S*H began as a 1968 novel by Richard Hooker (pseudonym of H. Richard Hornberger), a former military surgeon. “MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors” drew from Hornberger’s own experiences during the Korean War.

The book first inspired the 1970 Robert Altman film before evolving into the TV series that ran for 11 seasons – far longer than the actual Korean War it portrayed. While the show developed its own identity, many characters and the sardonic tone originated in Hornberger’s writings.

Hornberger reportedly disliked the TV adaptation, feeling it emphasized anti-war sentiments more than his novel, which focused on the dark humor medical personnel used to cope with wartime trauma.

10. Palm Royale

The glamorous Apple TV+ series starring Kristen Wiig as a social climber in 1969 Palm Beach has literary roots. The show is adapted from Juliet McDaniel’s novel “Mr. & Mrs. American Pie,” a satirical look at high society and identity.

Both the book and series explore themes of social status and reinvention through the story of a woman determined to join the exclusive Palm Beach high society after being abandoned by her husband. The adaptation maintains the novel’s sharp wit while expanding certain characters and storylines.

McDaniel’s novel was actually her debut, published in 2018 after winning a writing contest. The book’s transformation into a star-studded series featuring Laura Dern and Allison Janney alongside Wiig represents a remarkable journey for a first-time author.

11. House of Cards

Netflix’s groundbreaking political drama starring Kevin Spacey wasn’t American in origin. The show adapted Michael Dobbs’ 1989 British novel “House of Cards,” which had already been turned into a BBC miniseries in 1990.

Dobbs, a former Chief of Staff at Conservative Party headquarters, wrote the novel after a particularly heated confrontation with Margaret Thatcher. His insider knowledge of political machinations gave both the book and subsequent adaptations their authentic, cynical edge.

The American version transplanted the story from British Parliament to Washington D.C., but maintained the fourth-wall-breaking monologues and ruthless political ambition that made the original so compelling. The iconic line “You might very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment” appears in all three versions.

12. You

The disturbing psychological thriller that made viewers uncomfortable about their social media habits came from Caroline Kepnes’ 2014 novel. The book “You” introduced readers to Joe Goldberg, the charming bookstore manager with deadly obsessive tendencies.

Written in second-person perspective from Joe’s viewpoint, the novel creates the same unsettling intimacy that made the Netflix series so compelling. While the show expanded certain storylines and characters, Joe’s chilling internal monologue remains faithful to Kepnes’ original creation.

Kepnes has written multiple sequels following Joe’s continuing obsessions, providing material for subsequent seasons of the show. Her background as an entertainment reporter gave her insight into celebrity culture and social media that informed the story’s exploration of privacy in the digital age.

13. Sex and the City

The HBO series that defined a generation of women’s television began as Candace Bushnell’s newspaper column in the New York Observer. These columns were later compiled into the 1996 anthology book “Sex and the City.”

Bushnell’s real-life experiences as a single woman in New York City inspired her writings, with the character of Carrie Bradshaw serving as her alter ego. While the show developed its own storylines, the frank discussions about sex, relationships, and friendship originated in Bushnell’s candid columns.

Unlike the television show where the four women remain close throughout, Bushnell’s original columns featured rotating friends and acquaintances, with the city itself serving as the only consistent character besides Carrie. The TV adaptation created the iconic foursome that viewers came to love.

14. Orange Is the New Black

The groundbreaking Netflix series about women in prison was based on Piper Kerman’s 2010 memoir “Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison.” Kerman documented her 13-month sentence in a federal women’s prison for money laundering and drug trafficking.

While the show greatly expanded the scope beyond Kerman’s experiences, creating rich backstories for numerous inmates, the foundation came from her real observations about prison life and the criminal justice system. The memoir focuses more on friendship and community among inmates than the romantic entanglements that became central to the series.

Kerman now works as an advocate for prison reform and serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association. Her book and the subsequent series significantly influenced public conversations about incarceration in America.

15. Hannibal

NBC’s visually stunning psychological thriller didn’t originate with Dr. Lecter’s screen appearances. The series drew from Thomas Harris’s novels, primarily elements from “Red Dragon,” “Hannibal,” and “Hannibal Rising,” while creating its own unique prequel story.

Creator Bryan Fuller crafted an original narrative exploring the relationship between FBI profiler Will Graham and psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter before Lecter’s imprisonment. The show’s distinctive visual style and psychological depth expanded on Harris’s rich character studies while maintaining the gothic horror elements that made the books compelling.

Harris spent time with FBI profilers while researching his novels, much like the character Will Graham. This research gave his books an authenticity that carried through to the television adaptation, particularly in the depiction of criminal profiling techniques.