Interview with Jamie Laurenson (Executive Producer)

How did you and Nick become involved in making Love, Nina?
I had been working with Nick on a number of projects, and during one meeting he mentioned that his publishers had sent him a manuscript of Love, Nina, which he'd read and completely fallen in love with. He sent me a copy and I was hooked from the start. There’s a wonderful quality of laugh-out-loud addictiveness to Nina’s letters, which she’d forgotten all about for years.

Nina’s letters were an inspiration for Nick to write a serialised and unapologetically piece of comedy-drama - the letters capture a real sense of family life in the minute crazy detail that illuminates and delights us.

How faithful has the series remained to the book?
This is based on Nina’s book but it’s also, in a sense, a fiction; it’s not a biopic. The letters are written distinctively from Nina’s point of view, from the time and the place she was writing them, with a particular and private audience in mind.

The real people who inspired the story will find aspects of their lives recognisable in Nick’s rendering. But as he translates and find dramatic shape for it, there are departures from the book. So while there is licence taken, Nick has been very true to the spirit and tone of the material.

Why was SJ chosen to direct?
I’d worked with SJ before on a show called Toast and I knew she could bring a magical quality in the way she delivered the tone - and she has absolutely caught that. Through very careful casting, planning, a meticulous eye for detail, the framing and movement to every set-up, SJ makes it look effortless and stylish. It’s a real feast for the eyes. SJ has been working in the US for the last couple of years and so I was determined to bring her back to the UK to work on this.

We were really lucky to get a terrific cast together and that’s no small part down to SJ and Nick. Jason Watkins delivers a wonderful performance and we were desperate to find the right Nina, which is a fantastic part and intrinsic to the show. Faye Marsay captured it perfectly and has a brilliant combination of comic instinct, but is able to find the reality in the scene as well.

What do you hope the audience will take away from this?
In a broad sense it’s a rite of passage story about growing up, about finding friendship and family where you weren’t looking for it and finding your feet and way in the world. I hope people find the universal recognition of what family life is like, as well as enjoying the ride and the larks along the way.