Peter's Blog

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Roy Grace - The Television Series!

I am delighted to be able to tell you that last week I signed a deal with ITV Productions for the Roy Grace television series.

I'm even more pleased to say that I think the screen future of Roy Grace is in the best possible hands, because the production team is my dream ticket. I am co-executive producing with Keith Richardson, Controller of Drama for Yorkshire Granada and then ITV Productions for the past 20 years. He originally made his name with Harry's Game, and has been responsible for some the most successful drama series of the past two decades, including Emmerdale Farm and Heartbeat. Among his many awards is the Royal Television Society Outstanding Contribution to Television Award, won in 2006.

The Roy Grace series producer will be Ken Horn, whose numerous credits include The Royal, Against All Odds, Dr Who, The Street and The Marchioness Disaster.

The series will start with Dead Simple followed by the rest of the Roy Grace novels, with further fresh stories which I will then create. The scripts are being written by a wonderfully talented television writer, Neil McKay - some of you may have seen his dramatisation last year of the Moors Murders story, See No Evil,which won him a BAFTA. Like Keith Richardson and Ken Horn, Neil has a vast background of television experience, his credits including Titanic, Birth of a Legend, Planespotting, Heartbeat, Holby City, Dunkirk, Wall of Silence and many others.

No dates are set for production yet and there are still many hoops to go through. ITVP is still in discussions over the length of each book - whether a single two-hour slot, or two or three one-hour slots shown on consecutive nights, but eventually aims to make the programmes part of a long-running series, if they appeal to viewers.

As part of his reason for making the deal, Keith Richardson made the following comment: "Peter's created a very interesting character in Roy Grace. Here's a detective who is investigating other people's murdered daughters and missing wives, and he himself has a wife who has disappeared and he doesn't know if she is dead or just missing. It's the one thing that gives him humanity and an extra dimension to other [TV] detectives."

As yet we have made no decisions about casting - and I would welcome suggestions, on this blog, from you about not just Roy Grace, but any of the other regular characters.

Theakston's Award

Thank you for your votes for the Theakson's Old Peculier Crime Thriller of the Year Award for which Not Dead Enough was nominated. As you may have read, we just lost on the final judging committee decision to Stef Penney for The Tenderness Of Wolves.

As this is the third award in a row for which I have been a shortlisted finalist and not won, I'm beginning to feel like Martin Scorsese, forever being nominated for an Oscar and not winning! But hey, with wonderfully supportive readers like you, who needs awards...????!

Get A Tour Of Roy Grace's Brighton With Peter James

On September 19th I am giving a tour of Roy Grace's Brighton followed by a champagne fish and chip lunch on the pier to five winners of the competition on the Pan Macmillan website and to one prize winner from the wonderful St Wilfrid's Hospice in Eastbourne. So for any of you fancying a peek at Roy's world, do have a go!

St Wilfrid's is auctioning the place on the Roy Grace Tour in an effort to raise funds for the hospice. The place will be auctioned via a sealed-bid auction to raise vital funds for the hospice.

To be in with a chance of winning this one-off place, please send your sealed bid (the maximum amount you are prepared to pay) to the address below stating your name, address and phone number. All bids will be opened in August and if yours is the highest bid you will be notified and your place on the tour awarded upon receipt of payment.

Please send your bid to: St Wilfrid's Hospice (Fundraising)39-41 Upperton RoadEastbourne BN21 1LN

St Wilfrid's Hospice is a local charity providing skilled and compassionate care. They give care and support entirely free of charge to patients from the age of 18 with life limiting illnesses. It costs £ 3.4 million a year to run the hospice of which the NHS contributes just 15%. For the remainder, St Wilfrid's relies on legacy gifts, events, donations, trusts and income from our charity shops. You canc call them on 01323 644 500 or visit www.stwhospice.org

St Wilfrid's have also produced this fantastic poster to help promote the auction:

Bentley Flambé

Just when I was thinking all the teething troubles I had with my Bentley had been sorted out, it went and caught fire!

The saga began on a Sunday, three weeks ago, when driving along on a dry, sunny day, the windscreen washers suddenly came on and would not stop, even with the engine off and the key removed. After phone calls back and forward to Bentley Rescue, their best advice was for me to remove the relevant fuse. I did so, whereupon the Bentley's computer, being super-intelligent (but not that smart...) switched to another circuit and the pump started again. Finally the good old RAC turned up and managed to isolate and disconnect the offending washer pump.

However, next day, driving to a charity event at Glyndebourne Opera House, Helen and I dressed up in our finery, the car's alarm system suddenly went bonkers. Every warning flashed up in front of me, from NO SEAT BELT, to LOW TIRE PRESSURE, to CHECK OIL NOW! These were accompanied by a cacophony of loud gongs, then the car filled with smoke. The villagers of Glynde were entertained to the sight of the two of us leaping out, while the car fizzed and crackled and belched smoke from everywhere but the exhaust.....

The car was recovered and sent to Jack Barclay, in London, the Bentley dealers from whom I had brought the car. I was less than impressed to be told a couple of days later that the fault lay in leaves that had blocked a drain gulley, causing a build up of water, which had in turn caused corrosion, through which water had leaked into the car's on-board computer and wiring system. I then had a total sense of humour failure when I was told that because the car was out of warranty by a few months, I was looking at an £8,500 bill. You can read what happened next in this Daily Mail gossip column article!

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