The Bridget Effect

Well, it worked with Bridget Jones's Diary so why not try it again? The brains behind Bridget's big screen debut, the British studio Working Title, have snapped up the rights to newspaper columnist Mill Millington's book Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About to see if lightning really does strike twice. Just as Helen Fielding's Bridget started off her Chardonnay-swilling days on the newspaper pages of The Independent before moving via the bookstores to the big screen, Millington's book is a fictional version of his regular Guardian columns which trace his epic battles with his German-born other half, Margret. Earning a pittance at Wolverhampton's IT university at the time, the 39-year-old Millington was more than surprised when publishers, let along Working Title, banged on his door. "I was sitting in my attic in Wolverhampton minding my own business when publishers started to turn up asking me to write a book," he said. "If one publisher did that, that would have been just stupendous, when several do it is dizzying, and then to get a call telling you somebody wants to buy the film rights before it's even published, and it's Working Title, it's just ludicrous." Then he really did have to have a reality check. "They asked me if they thought Ewan McGregor would be good as the man, and Kate Winslet maybe as the woman. They were being deadly serious, but I sat there sniggering. Then they asked me if I had any thoughts on a sequel. I was sure they were taking the mickey." Mickey-taking they were not. Mr Millington, you really have made it. Thanks to the Guardian.