I’ve just watched the final stunning episode of ‘River’ the BBC 1 police drama starring Nicola Walker and Stellan Skarsgård… it was an absolutely perfect ending to an amazing, gripping, unmissable series… and I think I will have to give it a few days before I properly write about it.
However, looking at other people’s comments I notice that most people share my opinion that it was a marvellous drama from every point of view, acting, writing, filming, setting, music, plot… just everything! There was a difference of opinion though on whether there should be a second series; when you have watched six hours of something, thought about it, talked about it, written about it, totally engaged with it, it is natural to want to see those characters return… But how could a second series be as good as what we’ve just watched? It would forever be contrasted with ‘series 1’… and without giving away anything to those who haven’t watched it, there is a certain crucial element of the whole thing, about the character of the detective, River, played by Stellan Skarsgård, and about the initial murder which is being investigated, which makes it really difficult to imagine how a second series with those characters could work.
The very gifted writer, Abi Morgan has apparently commented that there is to be no second series… however, in the interview with her which I share below, she says ‘ if it does go onto a second series…’ which seems to leave the door open. I’m in no way comparing myself to Morgan, she is a genius, but I have had the same dilemma about sequels to novels; I used to say that I would never write a sequel, I wanted to leave the characters with my readers for them to decide what happens next, even though I knew in my own head what happens to them after the story finishes! When I published my first novel, lots of people asked about a sequel, and I resolutely said no… but when I wrote Radwinter, even though the conclusion ended all the different plot strands and resolved the various issues in the story, it somehow wasn’t the end and I for the first time, wrote a sequel! To my own surprise it didn’t stop there, I wrote a third part to the story of my characters lives, and now I am also writing a fourth, with ideas for a fifth Radwinter novel.
This interview with Abi Morgan is fascinating, but it does mention a lot of details in the plot, so if you are intending to watch ‘River’ then I suggest you save reading it until later – but it is extremely interesting!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/d4fdcdcc-fea8-438f-8830-1e9c93182703
If you haven’t read my Radwinter novels, you can find them here, and also my other novels too:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lois+elsden
Lois Elsden 