Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 185

Why Haven’t Bryant & May Made It To TV?

Morse got there. Vera did too, and Wallender and everyone from Lord Peter Whimsey to the wonderfully eccentric Mrs Bradley – they all ended up as TV series. You can’t move without falling over Sherlocks, and even Christie’s boring Tuppences had their own show. The question I get asked on a daily basis is ‘Why […]

‘Strange Tide’ Comes In

So the next chapter of the Bryant & May saga arrives – first copies have just popped through the door – and I’ve realised this is the longest novel in the series so far. (Don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of it.) This is the 15th in the series, and I’m now at work […]

The End Of Press Freedom Reaches Turkey

After taking over Zaman, the biggest daily Turkish newspaper, the ruling AKP and its President Recep Erdogan have swallowed the news agency Cihan, leaving only a tiny handful of independents with free speech – if they are brave enough to speak out at all. Most of the Turkish public get their news from the TV, […]

Raymond Kirkpatrick Tries London Shopping

Raymond Kirkpatrick is a colleague of Arthur Bryant’s. The bear-like heavy metal-loving Professor of English is currently working at the British Library and is our occasional guest speaker. His opinions are very much his own. ‘Why do tourists always head for Harrods and Oxford Street? What the hell is on sale in Camden town apart […]

Don’t Give Readers What They Expect

Recently a small arthouse film set in the 17th century called ‘The Witch’ became a massive US box-office hit, but many audience members took to Twitter to complain that it wasn’t their idea of a horror film, by with they presumably meant that it didn’t feature a woman in a pointy hat casting spells on […]

Young VS Old: An Argument For Urban Life

I once came out of a Sunday morning screening with a friend who pointed to some little people dressed in hipster clothes next to us and asked; ‘Are they dwarves?’ I replied; ‘No, Sarah, they’re children.’ It was such a rarity to see tots in central London that the mistake was understandable. But in the […]

What On Earth Is Wrong With Austrians?

First they gave us ‘Funny Games’, the original shocker that analysed our predilection for vicarious violence in cinema, then they remade it ten years later in a film so hated by the Roger Ebert column that it only earned half a star, but was described by the Guardian in a top-rated review as ‘an icy […]

Here Come The Kindle Editions!

When it came to putting out e-versions of my back catalogue, I decided to take a similar approach to the Bryant & May Christmas annual of short stories, ‘London’s Glory’. Instead of merely sticking some tales in a book I added explanations and essays. So rather than simply transcribing the various novels and collections into […]

No, I Haven’t Been Burgled. This Is My Stuff.

There’ve been a lot of articles this week about de-cluttering. The British, it seems, have suddenly become minimal, joining their neighbours to the north in living stripped-back lives. Ten years ago we were spending 26% of our total household budgets buying physical goods, and now that figure has fallen to a smidgen above 20%. So […]

It’s Miserable Out So Here’s A Bit Of Comic Genius

Stewart Lee on those damned immigrants, from his BBC show. Priceless, bizarre, mad. Buy his books and DVDs.