Editor's note: Crime writer Val McDermid turns her hand to radio drama with a comic thriller set amongst the plots and sheds of a Lancashire allotment in Deadheading (15 Minute Drama - Mon - Fri 1045, rpt 19.45). The drama stars Julie Hesmondhalgh and Miriam Margolyes. Here Val McDermid answers some question about her writing, recording the drama and her next project.
Val McDermid
How can crime be funny?
I'm Scottish so that's a slightly baffling question. I grew up in a culture where we always dealt with difficult or painful things by finding the black humour in them. Still do, for that matter. I know I sometimes respond to situations with comments that other people find in questionable taste, but it's the way my head works. I think it's a way of defusing a situation that we're struggling to cope with. It doesn't mean we're dismissing the seriousness; it just provides a release valve for complicated and overwhelming emotions.
What are your favourite comedies or comedians?
Sarah Millican, Susan Calman, Mark Steel, Victoria Wood, David Mitchell, Marcus Brigstock -- can you tell I'm a Radio 4 listener? I love I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Outnumbered, The Thick of It, The League of Gentlemen, Dinnerladies, The Inbetweeners, Green Wing... I like stuff that takes observational detail then bounces it off the wall.
How does writing comedy compare with writing crime? - which is harder - more gruelling?
It's all hard! I don't think there's much difference. They both present challenges; they both make significant imaginative demands. It's very hard to sustain comedy, and I never know whether it's come off or not until I actually hear the actors doing the readthrough. Good actors find that seam of comedy that runs through the work and they push it to the surface, which is a joy for me to hear. With a novel, I also have to wait for the reaction of others, but I don't have that direct experience of what the reader brings to the book.
When you wrote Deadheading, what was your thinking behind using a Natural History doc style narration?
It came from my producer, who directed me towards a Radio 3 adaptation of Gogol's Dead Souls which incorporated a narrator into the drama itself. We thought it might be interesting to try something similar, and I reckoned the Natural History approach would offer me opportunities for humour as well as offering an insight into the structure of the storytelling. But because it's comedy, I was able to make fun of the convention itself and the sometimes grandiose nature of the commentary. So it added a whole new layer to the drama.
Have you ever come a-cropper on an allotment?
I have friends who are serious allotment holders and I benefit both from their anecdotes and their seasonal gluts! I just hope none of them has a committee chairman who recognises their foibles in my characters!
The cast of Deadheading - comic drama on Radio 4 written by Val McDermid
Did you unearth any stories about criminal activities or love interest on allotments when you were plotting the drama/researching?
My lips are sealed... My favourite line, which I couldn't shoehorn in, was about an allotment society chairman who held the post for several years and always held the meetings at his substantial house. 'And do you know, in all those years, he never so much as offered us a cup of tea or a biscuit,' one outraged committee member said.
Are we likely to see more radio drama from you?
What are you working on next?I'm hoping that DCI Blair, DS Trotter and CSI Black will be back next year in another adventure, Dead Clever, set in a university. And in the meantime, I have this year's crime novel, The Skeleton Road, to finish...
Val McDermid was talking to Deadheading programme Producer Justine Potter
