麻豆约拍

In the summer of 1986, in a small Scottish town, Jimmy (Martin Compston) and Tully (Tony Curran) ignite a brilliant friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit. With school over and the locked world of their fathers before them, they rush towards the climax of their youth - a magical weekend in Manchester, the epicentre of everything that inspires them in working-class Britain. There, against the greatest soundtrack ever recorded, a vow is made: to go at life differently.

Thirty years on, half a life away, the phone rings. Tully has the worst kind of news, and a request that will test their friendship, love, and loyalty to the limit...

Adapted by Andrea Gibb (Elizabeth Is Missing) and directed by Peter Mackie Burns (Rialto) from Andrew O’Hagan’s acclaimed novel, Mayflies is a memorial to youth’s euphoria and to everyday tragedy. A tender goodbye to an old union, it discovers the joy and the costs of love.

Mayflies comes to 麻豆约拍 Scotland from 27th December and 麻豆约拍 One and 麻豆约拍 iPlayer from 28th December

Were you a fan of Andrew O'Hagan’s novel Mayflies previously?

I read the book before it had been published and before it went out to the public and fell in love with it immediately. It’s been amazing, and perhaps a little daunting, to see how well it’s been received and how it’s been lauded as a profound and tender work. It’s both of those things but it’s also very funny and never sombre, even when it’s exploring the reality of our mortality. This is a book about life and death and everything in between. It’s a huge responsibility to adapt something so humane and I really hope I’ve done it justice.

How did you get involved with developing the novel into the TV adaptation?

(and one of my best friends) sent me Andrew’s book while it was still in manuscript form. We’d been looking for something to do together and she thought Mayflies was it. She was right. I read it immediately and fell in love completely. It’s exquisitely written and painfully true. It also resonated deeply with me because my partner, Simon, had died a couple of years earlier from cancer. I could understand all the complex, conflicted emotions all the characters were experiencing, but particularly the character of Anna, Tully’s wife. Luckily, for Claire and I, Andrew agreed to trust us with this most personal book and we are privileged to have been given the opportunity.

Where did you start in the process?

I worked very closely with Claire and her Head of Development, Deanne Cunningham, on how to structure the scripts for a television audience and we made the decision to tell it in two interconnected timelines, and not in two separate halves. The second half of the book is the dominant narrative and 1986 is presented as a series of vivid memories, triggered by Jimmy and Tully’s emotional state in the present day. Novels and screen stories are two very different forms and the challenge of any adaptation is taking the essence of the novel, keeping the truth of it, while making it work as a dramatic and visual experience.

Were there conversations between yourself and Andrew O’Hagan in the adaptation process?

Andrew has been the most generous and brilliant collaborator. He’s an Executive Producer and has been closely involved throughout the script process, through the shoot and into post production. He completely understands the need to make some changes to suit the televisual form and gave us his blessing. His insights into his story, characters and their relationships has been invaluable and I’ll be eternally grateful to him - not just for the gift of his book but for his creative genius.

What do you find most rewarding and most challenging about adapting a novel for the screen?

All adaptations bring their own challenges and their own joys. I love working from books. I’ve been lucky to adapt some really amazing literary work and it’s always gratifying when it moves from page to screen and is true to the author’s original intention. Adapting Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing was one of the most rewarding experiences of my writing life, though it was not without its difficulties. The story was told from a single point of view by an unreliable narrator, who had dementia. That seems counter-intuitive to a screenwriter. How could I tell the story of a woman with no short term memory without shifting to other points of view? But it was only when I committed entirely to staying with Maud throughout that the adaptation started to work. All the clues are in the books themselves, you just have to know where to look.

What's the best piece of writing advice you've been given or that you can share?

I was once told ‘never believe them when they tell you your work is good and never believe them when they tell you it isn’t.’ In short, trust yourself, but you have to listen as well. It’s important to be open to ideas while remembering that no one has all the answers. It’s the people who ask the big questions that are always the most valuable in the screenwriting process. The beauty of working with producers as gifted as Claire is that she does.

As you are also an Executive Producer on this project, how did that role shape your experience?

I love being an Executive Producer and everything that comes with it. I used to be an actor so I enjoy being on set and watching the actors creating magic from the words. With Mayflies, I’ve been very involved in every stage of the process - from casting, through the shoot, and into the edit. Working closely with Claire and producer , and seeing first-hand how production schedules and budgets impact on script, has been invaluable. I hope I can use that knowledge and understanding going into my next scripts.

What do you hope audiences take away from watching Mayflies?

This is a story that confronts the end of life and how it can be managed. It asks the difficult question - do we have the right to control our own death? There are many sides to this debate - all of them valid - and I hope Mayflies will help kick start a conversation. It’s an important one and one we should be having as a society. But this is not just a story about assisted dying, it’s a story about living. It’s about humanity, in all its flawed glory, and the importance of the connections we make. Yes, it’s emotional and raw but it’s also funny and life affirming. Ultimately, it's a story of love and friendship. And it’s unusual because it explores platonic love between a group of young working class men, who are steeped in politics and culture, and who dare to dream of a life beyond their own circumstances. It’s inspirational in that way. Finally, I’d like the audience to be moved and changed by it. I hope they laugh and fall in love with the characters. I hope they empathise with the situation and I hope it demonstrates that life is precious and short, and we should treasure it.

Watch Mayflies on 麻豆约拍 One, 麻豆约拍 Scotland and 麻豆约拍 iPlayer - beginning Tuesday 27th December on 麻豆约拍 Scotland and Wednesday 28th December on 麻豆约拍 One

Read more interviews with the cast and crew of Mayflies on the 麻豆约拍 Media Centre (including novelist Andrew O'Hagan)

Listen to our Ask the Write Questions podcast with Andrea Gibb

Watch a short interview with Andrea Gibb