Huge congratulations to Benjamin Myers on the news that his novel The Gallows Pole is to be adapted for the BBC by the incomparable Shane Meadows. Quite understandably, he's not only delighted but also amazed at having been able to keep quiet for 18 months (the odd subtle little Twitter hint aside).
As the Screendaily story says, the resulting series will technically be a "period drama" in that it's based on a work of historical fiction, but don't go expecting any Georgian mansions, expansive lawns, snooty matriarchs, fluttering fans or below-stairs intrigue. The Gallows Pole tells the dark and frequently brutal tale of the Cragg Vale Coiners, a kind of Yorkshire mafia who both provided for and petrified the local community.
Reviewing the novel here three years ago, I wrote: "As a very visual and episodic novel, The Gallows Pole would seem ideal base material for a film. I'm envisaging John Hillcoat directing, a screenplay by Nick Cave ... and Paddy Considine in the role of Hartley." I mentioned Considine with the terrifying intensity of his character in Dead Man's Shoes in mind, and the perfect marriage of Meadows and material might yet mean that that particular vision is realised. Either way, it's bound to be unmissable TV.
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