Ian Midlane Interview

Ian, you’ve written an episode, can you tell us what inspired you? Was the whole idea of Al’s father dying your idea?

Being an actor on Doctors things come at you fast and furious, you shoot a scene and before you have time to think about what just happened you are onto the next one. You don’t live with a scene for more than a week. Writing is very different. I first pitched a breakdown of the story I wanted to write in November 2015 and had been mulling things over for months leading up to that. What a first was a story about Al solving a series of clues left to him by an old professor became a story about how someone can honour loved ones who are no longer around. Al’s father passing away seemed like a good way to investigate his upbringing and introduce his mother. Later on I thought it would be interesting to see Al and his father at the same age. This fitted in with a storyline that the storyliners wanted to do about caring for parents.

How long did it take you to write, and what was the process like?

Writing it happened in fits and starts over a few months. I wrote a couple of versions of the story which I was given notes on and then I wrote drafts of the whole thing. The first draft was very very long - about fifty minutes worth of screen time where I let the characters talk to each other lots. I loved writing Frances so much that when she started I just wanted her to talk more and more. To bamboozle Al.
As it is the episode is already pretty full. My favourite line even got cut. As you good folk are reading this I can say it here and it at least it will have seen the light of day.
Al tells Frances if there was any justice she would have all her hearts desires and she says; “ I don’t need all my hearts desires. My sister tells me I spend too much of my time being nice to people. A very selfish part of me wants someone to be nice to me for a change. Life has so often been full of nasty surprises. It’s about time one of them was pleasant” And Al replies “Yeah, I’m due a pleasant surprise too” The cutting room floor is the home of many a favorite line.
The second draft made it shorter and more shootable and the third which became the last draft made it a bit slicker. There are a couple of scenes that I rewrote the night before because things never quite go quite as planned when filming. It rained something rotten on us when it needed to be bright and sunny. The golf scene was also going to be a fishing scene. But I like that it became an ever changing thing. One of my fave moments in the episode is when Frances takes the golf club from Al in the church and I came up with that right before we did it. There is also a bit of improvisation in the episode, which I’m a big fan of.
It was massively enjoyable but also a bit tricky as I have this full time job being an actor on the show. I put the script away for a month when we were doing A Christmas Carol for example and to meet a few deadlines I set up a routine where I would sleep for an hour after we finished shooting and then write until about four in the morning then sleep for a few hours before getting up in the morning to shoot. I am excellent at the lunch hour nap too. Apologises if Al has looked a bit weary on screen recently but I wanted to do as good a job as possible on this.

Your mum is played by Rachel Bell, did you get to choose your on screen mum? What was she like to work with?

Rachel is a superb actress. I knew of her work as many of our audience will have done and really enjoyed playing scenes with her. We are going to see more of Eve. I had imagined Eve, older and sweeter at first but I really like that Al and Eve are so distant with each other.
I had worked with Jasmine who plays Frances before and she was always in my mind when I wrote Frances scenes because she has this cool ability to be sincere and a bit silly all at the same time.

Did you choose Ayesha to come on the trip with you? If so why, and did you find it difficult to write her dialogue?

It was originally going to be Emma who went away with Al but it quickly became clear that it should be Ayesha because they are like equals and both have trouble with their parents. One of the things I was determined to not do was sit in judgment on any of the characters. They are what they are and do what they do for human reasons. I wasn’t interested in my personal opinion of them. Ayesha has this difficult background but I wanted to see her bloom in an environment where she is valued. I love the way Laura plays the last scene in the car where she takes the money. Ayesha and Al are a fun combo I think.

In the episode you sing (beautifully!), we’ve heard you sing before in the Christmas Carol, but were you ever really a chorister?
Thank you. I fear it’s pretty off key! I was so poorly when we filmed these episodes that it’s lucky any noise come out. We have an episode coming up where Al is going to sound so lurgified. It was November. It rained constantly. Just know that we suffer to bring Britain it’s daily Doctors dose. It would have been nice to sing that tune as beautifully as possible, it is a gorgeous piece of music, but I figured Al was feeling a little awkward doing it. When we do the musical episode, I’ll do a better job. Have you ever heard Adrian Lewis Morgan whistle? He is like a whistling Yo Yo Ma. And Laura Rollins went to the Royal Ballet School. That musical episode will blow socks off. When it happens. If. Write in and request it.

Al seems to have a thing for Vicars – is there something we should know?

So the thing that Frances does as a job, which I’m hoping people don’t guess or know beforehand. That was a heartbreaker. I pitched the idea of her and then heard that Al was already going to meet a Vicar on his pilgrimage to Litchfield. But there are many Female parsons around. In fact the Vicar of the Church we filmed at is female and her name is Frances. Spooky.
Question. Can Vicars perform their own wedding service? That would be a cool scene. ‘I now pronounce us man and wife’.

How much are you like Al, which of his traits do you admire and which of them do you think he needs to work on?

I think Al is very handsome with great hair. I don’t like to make judgements about him, I’ll leave that up to the comments section of the Facebook page.

Have you now got the writing bug, can we expect to see any more from you? Do you think you’ll ever want to direct?

I very much enjoyed writing this episode and I’m extremely grateful to have been trusted and given the opportunity. I’d like to write more.
I’ve an idea about Frances coming to visit Letherbridge which would be funny and a bit sad. An idea about a time machine made out of a Delorean – no that’s Back to the Future. And an idea including a scene in space. Seriously. Doctors in Space.

If you could get Al to do anything in the show – what would you have him do?

I’d like to see Al eat a fresh bowl of seafood with a cold beer on a sunny beach in the Pacific. To be shot on location in Honolulu please.