A series of 1950s crime novels written by John Banville under the pen name Benjamin Black is to be made into a television drama for the BBC.
Banville, who won the Booker prize with The Sea, set out to create a detective series for television, and when the project was shelved he converted it into a novel. Nine years later it is about to complete a roundabout journey to the screen.
The Black series is set in 1950s Dublin and centres on Quirke, a widowed pathologist at Holy Family hospital who finds himself at the centre of murder mysteries, which he manages to solve while battling alcoholism and depression.
Filming will be in Dublin, and is expected to begin next year. Each of the first three Black books will be turned into a 90-minute drama, and if they prove successful the fourth instalment will also be adapted. The project is being led by Tyrone Productions, which made Riverdance, and Element Pictures, the company behind Garage and The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
Banville said the adaptations would be too much for him to undertake, and the producers are looking for a screenwriter. However, the author will remain involved.
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“I’d certainly like to see the scripts, particularly if they’re not written by an Irish writer. I want to make sure they get the accent right. It’s important not to be a Hollywood version of Dublin. It will have to be authentic,” he said.
“I think it’ll make a great series, it’s ideal. It’ll be fantastically atmospheric, and how it looks will be very important. There’s enough of Dublin still intact that they can film here and won’t have to change much.” The author said the areas around Mount Street and the Grand Canal, where much of the action in the books is set, have remained largely unchanged since the 1950s.
Ed Guiney, a producer with Element Pictures, said the Black books “cry out” for a screen adaptation. “It will be a prime-time television drama and be made on a decent budget, but I can’t give a figure,” he said.
“They’re absolutely gorgeous books. I love them. It’s a part of Dublin that we’ve never seen but is incredibly beguiling, with the lovely old Georgian squares. It’s so different from the Dublin we know today but it’s still in living memory.”
While most of the action in the Black novels unfolds in Dublin and the surrounding areas, a portion of Christine Falls, the first drama, is set in Boston, US, where Quirke travels as part of his investigation. Guiney said they had yet to decide where to shoot this section.
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Banville originally wrote the noir mysteries for television after being commissioned by RTE and ABC, the Australian television company, in 2002. The project did not proceed but Banville decided he “didn’t want to waste the work” and converted the plot into Christine Falls. Tyrone retained the screen rights.
“It takes an awful long time,” said Banville. “I have just finished a project with [the actress] Glenn Close, the film Albert Nobbs, and that took the best part of 20 years.” The Wexford-born author wrote the screenplay for Albert Nobbs, based on a short story by George Moore.