Chat show host Graham Norton’s novel forms the basis of new ITV drama (Image: Getty)
Now, it’s been turned into a four-part TV series. But, for once, Graham had very little to do with bringing it to the screen. “I knew these characters,” he says, “but I’d long since let them go. In fact, I’d forgotten half their names. So I was happy to let someone else put the script together.” That task fell to Dominic Treadwell- Collins, best known for his work on EastEnders, and his fellow producer and cowriter, Karen Hogan.
Says Graham: “Both Dominic and I have houses in West Cork and I knew him from when we did an EastEnders special on the chat show. He said he was interested in adapting the book.
“Why would I say no? Adaptation is a skill I don’t have. I’d had my time with those characters so it was time to hand them over. I’ve loved this experience because I’ve had nothing to do!”
The TV host did actually pop into the set to see how it was all panning out, but he was only there for a single day the day the producers had laid on an ice cream van.
Leading man Conleth Hill teases Graham: “Oh yeahÂ… he wasn’t stupid. He knew when the ice cream was being given out.”
IN FACT, Graham admits to initially feeling a bit weird about not being involved. “But not for long. I thought it might be an odd thing but actually I loved seeing the direction in which the characters were going and the way their world was being opened up.”
For all its pedigree and a cracking Irish cast, everyone seems to agree the production’s masterstroke was persuading Kathy Burke to direct it. She first found fame as a TV comedy actress, best known for her hilarious sketches in Harry Enfield And Chums, including an unforgettable turn as a clueless teenage boy in the Kevin and Perry skits.
However, Kathy has made a point of avoiding television work since she moved into directing.
“Usually, I turn down telly jobs,” she says. “I’m normally a theatre director, that’s what I love and it’s something I’ve been doing for 20 years now.”
FATED: Kathy Burke had been listening to Norton’s audiobook when asked to direct (Image: Getty)
But it was a quirky twist of fate that persuaded her to break her own rule.
“Because of the pandemic, I found myself at home listening to the audio tape of Graham reading his book,” she says.
“I really enjoyed it.” Then her manager got in touch to say that Dominic Treadwell-Collins would love her to direct the TV adaptation of Holding.
“I said that was a real coincidence because I’d just listened to the book,” she continues.
“When he then said that the TV script made more of the women [characters], it piqued my curiosity.
“We all know Graham Norton. There’s a warmth there but also a cheekiness and an edge of darkness allied with great humour and great love.
‘I’m person, found touching, like “So, all of that is at the core of it.Then, when I read the first two episodes, the characters just jumped off the page.
“Plus, my big-hearted mother was from West Cork and I’d never been back. I’m not an emotional person but I found it very touching, very moving. It felt a bit like coming home. I’ve got 40 years of being in this business so I like to think I know what I’m talking about.
“I also know how to communicate with actors.”
Pauline McLynn plays busybody shopkeeper Eileen (Image: Getty)
She says she loved working with award-winning Game Of Thrones star Conleth, who plays the lead role of Garda police officer, Sergeant PJ Collins. PJ is a gentle soul who hides from people and fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work. He’s one of life’s outsiders, lovable, but lonely and, in honesty, a little bit rubbish at his job. When the body of long-lost local legend Tommy Burke is discovered, PJ is called to solve a serious crime for the first time in his career and he finally has to connect with the village he has tried to avoid.
“PJ is a multi-layered character,” says Conleth. “He’s led a mundane existence, comprising very little police work. He suddenly gets his first murder case and his life changes now that he has something important to work on.”
The only woman in his life is his housekeeper, Mrs Meany, played by Brenda Fricker, Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for My Left Foot. But, in time, he gets closer to Brid Riordan (Siobhan McSweeney), the woman Tommy jilted at the altar.
Siobhan says: “It’s rather beautiful; there’s such a joy between s them. Characters like Brid and PJ are not usually made the romantic leads in TV dramas or given the great love story.
“There’s something very touching about their relationship.”
What former Casualty star Brenda especially loved about Holding was the clever, intricate storytelling.
“Everyone in that script is capable of murder,” laughs the actress.
“Viewer suspicions will ricochet from one character to another. I loved the slowly unravelling plot: the twists, the murder and the craic. It’s very funny in places but it’s also a very serious story.”
VIEWERS will also recognise Pauline McLynn (forever identified as Mrs Doyle in Father Ted) who plays shopkeeper and busybody Eileen O’Driscoll with some relish.
“I loved her, though,” Pauline says. “She’s widowed but that doesn’t seem to be taking too much out of her any more.
“She was once married to the local Garda, which makes things interesting between her and PJ, the current Garda.”
Making Holding didn’t feel like a job, she says. She loved filming in the stunning environs ofWest Cork.
“It’s a place people have on their wish list for a holiday. I was getting to stay there and work as well; it was like the greatest staycation ever.”
Because he had little or no hand in bringing Holding to the screen, Graham can be objective, he says, about the end result.
“My book is a genre book: it’s what is known as ‘cosy crime’. But what Dominic and Karen Hogan have done is make a TV show that isn’t like any other.”
Forget Grantchester. Forget Midsomer. “They’ve really elevated the book as a stand-alone piece of television.
“Its feel is entirely its own – and that’s so hard to do.”
Holding airs on ITV at 9pm tonight and on catch up via ITV Hub