Born and raised in North Wales, to Yorkshire parents (it can get confusing sometimes, but I always cheer for the team in red), I started writing crime fiction about my home when I was 15 and I haven't stopped since... So, on the last Friday of every month, I'm aiming to post a short story,... Continue Reading →
‘But I’ve never heard of it!’: Babylon 5, the first, best attempt at a TV novel
The Babylon Project was a dream given form, a self-contained storyline five seasons long. A shining beacon of interconnected writing ten years before the The Killing or the MCU made it cool, all alone in the night (because hardly anyone watched it). This is a blog about the first of the TV novels. The year... Continue Reading →
Criminal: UK – How not to do a rape story
Criminal is one of those high-concept Netflix shows, made with top acting talent, gorgeous cinematography, and a ticking digital clock that counts down how much time Our Heroes have to crack the case. There are actually four versions, UK, France, Germany and Spain, each entirely focussed around the interviews between the suspect, and the police... Continue Reading →
There’s Been Another Murder: How ITV killed off the UK’s two longest-running crime shows by making The Exact Same Mistakes
I make no apologies for the joke. Audience tastes in crime fiction change over time. The 90s, in the UK anyway, was the heyday of the Big Story, usually as told by Lynda la Plante and lasting up to five hours’ viewing time with ads. Then the 00s came along, and suddenly everyone wanted to... Continue Reading →
The Zodiac Killer, Or, The Discerning Psychopath’s Guide to Utterly Bamboozling Law Enforcement
The only absolute rule with serial killers, is that there is no absolute rule with serial killers. There are a lot of generalities that often hold true. Serial killers tend to be men, their crimes usually have a sadistic sexual element, their victims tend to be those they’re sexually attracted to, they tend to carry... Continue Reading →
The Victim: Jumping the shark so high you start flying
Literarily speaking, there’s very little that’s worse than an otherwise gripping, clever, well-made piece of art dropping in something clunkingly stupid to try and trip you up. I love a good twist. They are, after all, a big part of the attraction of crime fiction. The unexpected reveal of who the villain was all along,... Continue Reading →
Line of Duty: First thoughts on the Battle of Hastings
As a loyal Line of Duty fan, it pains me to say this, but… that wasn’t quite as good as seasons 2, 3, and 4. It was still good. Just not as good. There were still some great twists, from a show that’s always been more about the story than the characters. Corbett’s murder shocked... Continue Reading →
Leave it to the Readers
Once it’s out there, it’s out there There’s a running joke among writers, that goes something along the lines of an over-zealous English teacher explaining to their class that the curtains being blue shows the depression and sadness of a character in a scene. Meanwhile the confused writer sits there going ‘Huh? No, I... Continue Reading →
How the police should have solved Gone Girl really easily…
Ok, so, as shown in the movie, it wasn’t an incredibly easy case to solve (unlike, say, the Sandbrook murders of Broadchurch). Amy knew how to play to the prejudices and expectations of investigators and spin what would at first glance seem a plausible narrative. The operative phrase there being at first glance. Because, with... Continue Reading →
Creating A Narrative – The Various Stories About the First World War…
Very few wars throughout history have followed the traditional literary three-act structure as well as the First World War did. It’s possible to divide it quite neatly into this most common of narrative structures, even if they are somewhat uneven – a short first Act between August 1914 and the First Battle of Ypres, a... Continue Reading →
Testament of Youth, AKA Why I can’t Watch Historical Films
Oh my God, she’s just found her brother and saved him from a squalid and messy death and this is one of the emotional high points of the movie… but Goddamn it, Etaples is supposed to be a seaside town and it’s taking me right out of the moment! Testament of Youth is the movie... Continue Reading →