film “We was the people before there was time … and time’s overtook us.” 29 May 202529 May 2025 “When George Borrow lived with the Gypsies over 100 years ago, Petulengro told him: ‘Life is very sweet brother; who would wish to die?’ To find out if life was…
True Crime A Desperate Business: The Murder of Muriel McKay 7 Nov 20227 Nov 2022 The disappearance of Muriel McKay remains for me one of the most frightening and perplexing mysteries in British criminal history, a tragedy which began with a case of mistaken identity…
Real Life “Silver Bells and Cockleshells” – Remembering Craigherbs Cottage 29 Jun 202219 Feb 2023 "Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockleshells, and pretty maids all in a row." I was recently asked by a creative writing student…
Real Life “Wealth I Seek Not, Hope Nor Love…” Remembering Peter the Painter 15 Mar 202119 Apr 2021 “Sadly lost again in a longing for the past” (9) A timely cryptic-crossword clue this week made me realise not only that “nostalgia” is an apt anagram of “lost again”,…
television drama… High Spirits and Low Morale 29 Nov 201826 Jan 2023 This is a story not only about a forgotten story, but about a forgotten tragedy. It is a two-part tale. Bear with me. In the ever-changing sea of crime series, one…
film Familiar Thoughts of School and Unfamiliar Schools of Thought 20 Nov 201829 Oct 2020 “Oh, Mr Hemming, what’s happening to the world? What’s this filth that’s… flooding… everything… ” In the late Sixties and early Seventies, it was examination time for the British public…
film The Milkman Also Rings Twice 18 Jul 201729 Oct 2020 “I might kill myself today. No, I’ll go shoplifting instead... then I’ll kill myself. Are you listening to me? Does this cry from the heart meaning nothing to you? I…
television drama Savage Ms-Siah 5 Jun 201723 Jul 2024 “We’ll only ever change things by going on with what we believe.” In the early 2000s, I was researching my book on the history of the BBC's Play for Today…
television drama Impish Hillmans 28 Apr 201729 Oct 2020 “I remember this thing I saw on telly once about a couple that had this old car they didn’t want, and they kept trying to get rid of it. They…
True Crime Love Will Tear Us Apart 31 Mar 201731 Mar 2017 For my book, A Dangerous Place, I spent a lot of time talking to officers from Surrey CID, and through that research also discovered a remarkable website detailing the history…
Dreams Gathering Dust 