`50 Shades of Grey` was planned as TV series

London: Erotic novel `Fifty Shades of Grey` was almost adapted as a TV show. The CEO of US network Starz Chris Albrecht revealed that he had asked Universal for the rights to the E L James` novels, reportedly.

If successful, he would have adapted the novels into three seasons, one for each book. He is taking this approach with his upcoming series `Outlander`, which is based on a series of romantic fantasy novels by Diana Gabaldon. "If you read the `Outlander` book, this could only be a series. I`m the guy who called up Universal and said, `I`ll get you three years on the air as a series?let`s just do a Fifty Shades of Grey series," he said. "You don`t have to worry about box office, you don`t have to worry about a rating, you can tell the story the right way." `The Fifty Shades of Grey` movie will release on Valentine`s Day 2015. The first official image of Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey was recently released.