George Gently
Producer interviews
Writer and Executive Prducer – Peter Flannery
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What inspired you to adapt George Gently for TV for the first time?
About four years ago I was rummaging in a dusty old bookshop when my hand fell on a paperback book called Gently Through The Mill by Alan Hunter.
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Looking through it, I realised it was one of a substantial series of books featuring George Gently of Scotland Yard – the character and the writer being completely unknown to me. I bought the book for a couple of pounds and took it home.
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This was not a completely random decision, nor was it inspired by any lifelong devotion to the detective fiction genre, which has always rather eluded me. But I had decided some while earlier to be on the lookout for a series of novels that could provide the basis for potential television adaptation.
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To my surprise I found I enjoyed the novel, Gently seemed attractively old-fashioned, not just in his methods and his mindset, but in his values. I found there were dozens more in the series and that they were available for option. I started reading them avidly.
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Did you do need to do any research into police dramas? Can you tell us how this drama differs from others in the genre?
One of the earliest decisions I made was to set the action in the early to mid-Sixties.
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In fact, Hunter's novels happen from the Fifties right through to the Eighties, but it seemed to me that they were at their best when they were set at a time when the world was on the cusp of massive social change and George Gently's values were being challenged by that change.
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So there was never any problem about researching other examples of the genre, nor of searching out an angle to make Gently seem different from those other television detectives. The distinctiveness is inherent in the character and in the time.
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How does George Gently compare to any other drama you've written?
Writing the first script was a challenge for me, not being someone who is known for writing genre fiction.
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My previous work (Blind Justice, Our Friends In The North) has usually been character–driven or issue–driven rather than plot–driven and I feared what might happen (or fail to happen) when I had to attend more scrupulously to a plot!
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In fact, by the time I'd created two new characters for Gently to work alongside, and added a whole theme about the huge changes in society at that time concerning attitudes to homosexuality, the story didn't seem so plot–centred after all.
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I hope the audience will enjoy the characters and the portrait of the age just as much as the nuts and bolts of the double murder mystery.
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Do the cast look how you imagined them? Did you play a role in the casting process or have people in mind already?
I never write with people in mind for characters, you end up writing what you think they can do, which limits you both in the end. But when I first met Martin Shaw to discuss the role, I had a strong sense that he would fit the character, and the character him.
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Martin is extremely good at playing bruised integrity, which is very right for George Gently. He turned out to be terrific at measuring out for us the awful grief that Gently endures in the story after the murder of his wife in the opening sequence.
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How would you describe George Gently?
If you'd asked me a year ago to describe George Gently in one sentence I would have replied: "Hopefully, my pension."
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But now, after watching the love and skill lavished on it by producers, the director, cast and crew, I would have to banish my grasping cynicism and say "George Gently is a creation that deserves the chance to become the nation's favourite detective."
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Producer – Jake Lushington
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What was it that attracted you to this drama?
The quality of the script and the different kind of detective/sidekick relationship between Gently and Bacchus as well as the challenge of doing a period piece which gave us the very familiar Sixties setting in a really fresh and edgier way.
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What makes George Gently different to any other police drama on TV?
Peter Flannery is as concerned about character drama as he is by who has committed the crime. Gently is concerned about corruption and will do what it takes to find it and bring those involved, be they coppers or criminals, to justice.
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Peter Flannery has written a detective drama about a time in Britain where the rules of policing and the social mores of a nation were changing faster than many could understand, which makes the cases he investigates all the more difficult, and fascinating to look at from a present day perspective.
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How does George Gently compare to any other drama you've produced?
Any period piece relies more heavily on art direction, costume and make up than a contemporary piece, in order to create the world of the drama. Gently particularly required locations that were not merely picture postcard but gave a raw, natural feel.
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A lonely beach or an exposed hilltop, combined with the bustle of an old fashioned police station and a student jazz club gives a picture of a place and time far broader than many similar dramas.
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What were the highlights of the shoot for you?
Watching the brilliant chemistry between Martin and Lee. We were also thanking our
lucky stars for good weather in November and December on the beaches of Ireland...
And the Guinness was also a highlight for me!
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If you had to describe George Gently in one sentence, what would you say?
I would say that it's a challenging and entertaining detective drama that gives you a realistic snapshot of the early Sixties, rather than a rose tinted memory.
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