After a relatively quiet period, the film slate is ramping up again with four features hoping to shoot in 2026

Faye Ward_Credit Charlie Bibby, FT

Source: Charlie Bibby/FT.com, used under licence from the Financial Times

Faye Ward

Need to know: Fable Pictures was set up with backing from Sony Pictures Television in 2016 by Faye Ward, who had previously worked alongside Alison Owen at Ruby Films. The company had a strong cinematic start with Tom Harper’s Wild Rose, Jon S Baird’s Stan & Ollie and Sarah Gavron’s Rocks.

Since those films, Fable has spent some years building its TV slate, which includes the double-Bafta-­winning Mr Loverman, a queer love story adapted from the book by Bernardine Evaristo. Now the film slate is ramping up again, with up to four features shooting in 2026 (the TV slate demands equal attention).

Fable also branched out into theatre in 2025 with Wild Rose The Musical, directed by John Tiffany, breaking box-office records at The Lyceum in Edinburgh and now plotting a London launch (theatre veteran Patrick Daly also produces). The staff at south London-based Fable has grown to seven people, proud of their female-driven, working-­class focus.

Key personnel: Faye Ward, founding creative director; Hannah Farrell, creative director; Caroline Harvey, executive producer; Hannah Price, head of development.

Incoming: Ashley Walters is newly attached to direct Khadijah, a film written by Faryal Velmi and Nathaniel Price, based on the true story of Khadijah Mellah, a teenager from Brixton, London who became the first Muslim woman ever to win a competitive horse race. The project is out for financing.

Next on the TV slate is Chocolate Wars – written by Chloe Ewart and hoping to start production in 2026 – inspired by Deborah Cadbury’s book. The slate across film and TV includes an untitled Sarah Gavron feature with Film4 and Mubi, and other collaborations with Nicole Taylor, Polly Findlay, Sheena Patel, George Kay, Jessie Buckley, Jessica Ruston, Penny Skinner, Craig Roberts, Kirstie Swain and Jodie Whittaker.

Faye Ward says: “We want to make stories about the underdog but in a way that feels cinematic and ambitious, whether that’s on a TV screen or the big screen… We love stories that are about outsiders. I want to tell stories so that when you come out of the cinema, you feel energised, that you’ve had an experience.”

Contact: info@fablepics.com 

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