New BBC drama Mayflies stars Martin Compston and Tony Curran, and tells a story of love, friendship and everyday tragedy.
It follows lifelong friends Jimmy and Tully, as they grapple with the news that Tully has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. This is made all the more difficult from Jimmy when Tully asks him to help him travel to Switzerland to die on his own terms.
The emotional two-part drama drama will air on back-to-back nights on BBC One, while they will both be made available at once on BBC iPlayer. But is the series based on a true story?
Read on for everything you need to know about the inspiration for new BBC drama Mayflies.
Is Mayflies based on a book?
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It is. Mayflies is based on Andrew O’Hagan’s 2020 novel of the same name, with O’Hagan also being involved in the series as an executive producer.
O’Hagan has revealed that he “took a great interest in the production” from the beginning, including in the casting of Compston and Curran as Jimmy and Tully.
He said: “Finding the right actors to play these boys was a crucial task from the beginning. We looked at a lot of very talented people but the ones we found seemed to burst with energy and understanding. Casting is a tough game and it keeps you up at night!”
O’Hagan also revealed that he was on set “a lot, mainly as a cheerleader and a mascot.” He also wanted to be “available to the screenwriter, Andrea, to the director, Peter, and to the actors, who would often ask me about a particular detail or a local Scottish habit from the past”.
He continued: “Authenticity was important to us all and I tried to pitch in and assist where I could. It was also just fun to be with these brilliant people as they worked to tell this very warm-hearted story. ”
Is Mayflies based on a true story?
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While the series is based on a fictional novel with fictional characters, the book was inspired by a real-life childhood friend of O’Hagan’s who died of cancer in 2018, named Keith Martin.
O’Hagan previously told Interview magazine of Martin: “He was the guy, the lead singer in the band, the most handsome guy who anyone knew. All the guys either fancied him or wanted him to be their best friend, the girls all loved him, the highest cheekbones in Europe, the best record collection in Scotland. He was that guy.
“And he never really moved away from the small town that we grew up in. He moved like 20 miles away and that was thought to be a great journey for him.”
O’Hagan also revealed that Martin became a teacher and that “when he was dying, before my wedding, he said to me, ‘Would you ever write about us?’.”
O’Hagan continued: “Because all that growing up and that hurly burly of teenage years and politics, we were so anti-Thatcher and supporting the miners during The Great Miners’ Strike of 1984-85. I was nipping off to read Interview magazine coming from a strike meeting.
“That’s the kind of life that we had then and we loved the glamor of music and film, and he was my buddy when it came to all that. When he was dying – he had esophageal cancer and he knew he only had months to live – he asked me to do it, and I thought, ‘I’m going to do this.’ I just didn’t realise I was going to do it immediately while the whole thing was so raw. But I did.”
What changes were made to the book when adapting Mayflies?
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The biggest change made to the book Mayflies for the TV adaptation was in the structure. While the book first details Jimmy and Tully meeting and their life growing up, before the second half shows them years on when Tully gets diagnosed with terminal cancer, in the series these two timelines are interspersed.
The show’s screenwriter Andrea Gibb recently explained this change, saying: “I worked very closely with Claire [Mundell, executive producer] and her Head of Development, Deanne Cunningham, on how to structure the scripts for a television audience and we made the decision to tell it in two inter connected timelines, and not in two separate halves.
“The second half of the book is the dominant narrative and 1986 is presented as a series of vivid memories, triggered by Jimmy and Tully’s emotional state in the present day. Novels and screen stories are two very different forms and the challenge of any adaptation is taking the essence of the novel, keeping the truth of it, while making it work as a dramatic and visual experience.”
Gibb also noted that O’Hagan was happy for these changes to be made, explaining: “Andrew has been the most generous and brilliant collaborator. He’s an Executive Producer and has been closely involved throughout the script process, through the shoot and into post production.
“He completely understands the need to make some changes to suit the televisual form and gave us his blessing. His insights into his story, characters and their relationships has been invaluable and I’ll be eternally grateful to him – not just for the gift of his book but for his creative genius.”
Mayflies airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9pm on 28th and 29th December 2022. For more news, interviews and features, visit our Drama hub, or find something to watch now with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide.
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