Blog Archives:
Why I love Dorothy L. Sayers
The final episode of ‘A Very British Murder’ will be on the goggle box again on Saturday 17th January at 8pm, and it includes my absolute tip-top favourite detective novelist, Dorothy L. Sayers. I really wanted to make the entire programme about her, but they wouldn’t let me! So, for my fellow enthusiasts, here’s the
Continue ReadingWhy I love Sherlock Holmes
On tonight’s ‘A Very British Murder’, we cover a bit of Sherlock Holmes, so here’s my recent article from the Telegraph about how much I love him. Apologies if you’ve read it already, I did tweet the link on New Year’s Day when it came out. (Oh, and did you know there’s a book to
Continue ReadingMurder behind the scenes
Our BBC series A Very British Murder is back tomorrow night, starting a new run at 8pm on BBC Four. To get you in the mood, here are some behind-the-scenes photos from when we were making it last year…. Here Matthew Sweet, a very naughty man, and an expert on Wilkie Collins, is administering my first
Continue ReadingHow to film a murder in a library … a guest post from TV researcher Chloë Penman
Hello from me! I’m here only briefly today, to introduce my guest. Chloë Penman (left), who works for BBC Bristol, was our brilliant young researcher on the series ‘A Very British Murder’. I’ve asked her to tell you a bit about her experience of what became known as ‘Library Day’, the day we spent filming
Continue ReadingMurderous ornaments, puppets, knick-knacks, ritual artefacts and books
Well, as you seem to have been enjoying the pictures of various murderous ornaments I’ve been putting on Twitter and Facebook recently, I thought I’d share an article I recently wrote in the BBC History Magazine with more detail… As Britain’s cities expanded in the early 19th century, so too did the nation’s obsession with
Continue ReadingIt’s publication day for ‘A Very British Murder’ …
… so here’s a recent article, from ‘The Mail on Sunday’, to tell you what it’s all about. Wearing a demure white mob-cap, I step out onto the stage of London’s Old Vic theatre. I am Maria Marten, a village maiden, secretly meeting my lover. But my – or Maria’s – happiness is to
Continue ReadingA Very British Murder
Dear readers, some of you have noticed that my blog has been rather quiet in the last few months, but that’s because I’ve been spending my Sundays on something else instead. I’m now happy to have in my hands finished copies of my new book – my fourth – about the history of the British
Continue ReadingNew BBC TV series on its way: A Very British Murder
I’ve spent part of the weekend clearing out old research notes and making some new folders marked ‘Murder’. No, not a new hobby, just a new TV series on its way. ‘A Very British Murder’, its working title, was announced by the BBC this week: read the official press release here. We’re so early on
Continue Reading
