Jersey heading back to TV screens with Mainlander?

Tuesday 08 March 2016

The BBC are looking at commissioning a pilot script of Jersey writer Will Smith’s book ‘Mainlander’ which has just been published as a paperback.

Will, who has written for The Thick of It and Veep, published the book about a teacher in 1980s Jersey against a backdrop of police corruption and the disappearance of a child.

He’s due back in the Island in a fortnight for a signing event at Waterstones.

The book – described by the Guardian as “The Wicker Man meets Fargo” – has gone down well in the Island, according to the writer.

“The people who have read it have been quite evangelical about it,” said Will.

“I’ve not had any ‘you’re painting the Island in a bad light’ reaction at all. I didn’t want to be upsetting anyone, I just wanted to be setting an exciting, interesting book somewhere that I knew.

“I think it’s gone down well with the home crowd.”

A further three books in the series are ‘more or less planned out’ according to Will, who has also revealed that there has been interest from the BBC.

“The BBC are looking at it at the moment with a view to commissioning a pilot script,” he said.

“It’s a very long and slow path from the page to the screen. That would be an excellent sign though, and I’ve mapped out the next book in enough detail that I could write it now, I’ve got 6,000 words or so. The final two are mapped out in less detail.”

Aside from the Mainlander project, Will is also working on a pilot script for Mick Herron’s spy novel Slow Horses, a crime drama for the BBC and a Channel Four sitcom about YouTube chefs.

Will is going to be doing a Q&A at Waterstones on Friday 18 March from 6 pm to 7 pm, and a signing at the store the following day from 11 am to 3 pm.