The two British fantasy authors behind the publishing phenomenon, Tunnels, have landed a million-pound film contract. Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, authors of the series that has already been called the "new Harry Potter" have been signed up Relativity Media. The deal was arranged Barry Cunningham, the man who published JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone after she had suffered many refusals.

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams are excited by the proposed big-budget movie of their novel. Tunnels follows the adventures of Will Burrows, a 10-year-old boy who finds a secret world of tunnels beneath the garden of his London home.

Gordon and Williams have been friends since their college days and self-published 2,500 copies of the book in 2005. In 2007, The Daily Telegraph exclusively published extracts from Tunnels just before it hit the bookstands.

The authors will earn £500,000 in advance royalties, with in excess of £500,000 once filming starts. Tunnels, the first in a series of fantasy children’s novels, has reached number one in countries including France, as well as number six in the New York Times Bestseller list.

Roderick Gordon and Brian Matthews biography, bibliography and interviews