In yet another confirmation that the world has gone mad, some lunatics have only gone and decided to make a TV show based on my books! It’s called Tall Tales & Murder. It’s co-funded by the BBC and RTE and is being filmed in Ireland right now! There are some fantastically talented people involved, and I can’t wait to see how it all turns out. It’s already been commissioned for a second series, presumably because if you get a dry day’s filming in Ireland, you want to get the most out of it by trying to get at least two series’ worth of outdoor shots done before it starts chucking it down.
To be entirely honest with you, I’m not involved in the day-to-day writing side of things as I’ve already got a job and I’m far too busy writing books while being permanently on standby to give dog belly rubs. I’m not allowed to give much away about the plot, but it’ll be loosely based on A Man With One Of Those Faces. We don’t know who’s playing whom yet, but the named cast includes some of Ireland’s finest, including Ella Lily Hyland (Black Doves, Towards Zero), Aidan Gillen (Love/Hate, Game of Thrones), Philippa Dunne (Amandaland, Derry Girls) and Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders).
TV is a much different beast to novels, and honestly, in a wonderful way, I’m having a hard time believing that a version of the characters I made up while sitting in the MMU Library about a decade ago, thinking I was writing a ‘practice book’, which publishing subsequently didn’t want because it was ‘too funny and too Irish’ will now be stomping around and swearing it up on a screen near you soon.
The only reason that and the books that followed became successful and have now ended up here is thanks to all of you wonderful readers who read, reviewed and recommended them to others. There is no big machine behind us, just my most wonderful Wonderwife and two dogs who are frankly, more of a hindrance than a help. This book was self-published, although I hate that term, and it managed to find its way to a lot of people by ways we’ve still not figured out, but almighty word of mouth seems to have been a big part of it. Also, have to give a shout out to Morgan C. Jones, currently wowing Broadway, whose incredible narration made the audiobook so successful.
It’s very easy to get cynical about the machinations and eccentricities of the publishing world, but as long as readers are at the end of it, it’ll always be possible to find an audience for something made with love and passion. So, what I really wanted to say was a big thank you to all of the Bunnymafia for your ongoing incredible support. You guys rock!
While the show will initially be on RTE and BBC (who, FYI, took my TV License payment this morning – coincidence?), as with everything, the producers will be looking for distribution around the world and we’ll let you know about all of that when we do. In the meantime, I’m going to keep working away on writing my books, Bunnyverse and The Stranger Times, plus a dollop of Ursula with Wonderwife thrown in for good measure, same as always. The TV thing has gone to Diller’s head though; he’s wearing shades indoors now and has been carrying around his chew toy while pretending to be on a conference call with LA all morning. As always, keep an eye on your e-mail inbox for my fun-packed and must-read newsletter, the latest of which will probably be dropping next week, where we’ll stick in a few more details.