The Turkish Detective by Barbara Nadel

 

An Idiot in TV Land

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How 'The Turkish Detective' arrived on the small screen

 Option is a funny word. To most people it means a choice of some sort. But to writers it also denotes the sale of one's book or series of books to a film, TV or streaming company. To have 'an option' on your work is generally a good thing because it means that someone has given you money. I'm all for it. However, having your work 'optioned' is a very long way off from having your work adapted for film or TV. Options are purchased for a specific length of time at the end of which the option, if not exercised may either be renewed, for another sum of money, or allowed to lapse. The latter course of action means that the writer is then free to take their work elsewhere in search of another route into the world of broadcast media.

Prior to the Cetin Ikmen series being optioned by Paramount/Viacom, it had been optioned by a smaller, UK film company for several years. I know that the producer involved was very keen to make a TV series based on my books and put a lot of work into trying to secure funding, all of which failed. Before that, after about five years into my career, other companies both big and small expressed their interest in the series and I had a lot of meetings with producers from companies both big and small, foreign and domestic. I ate a lot of nice lunches in the sorts of restaurants that are usually beyond the pocket of people like me, some I'm quite sure wondered what the hell I was doing there. But I ate some lovely food and got to wear big hoop earrings and 'George' at Asda label clothes at places that had never experienced their like before. Nothing happened except slight weight gain.

When I was finally called to a meeting with Paramount in London in 2019, I had no reason to believe anything significant was going to happen. But this time I was wrong and for the next year I found myself together with my literary agent, my media agent and a media lawyer, perusing a contract of Byzantine complexity. Thank God for those wonderful people! As a self-confessed contractual idiot I needed all the help I could get and I would advise anyone in that position to do likewise.

Meanwhile, Coronavirus had taken hold and so thoughts about a possible Ikmen TV series drifted into the ether. Luckily, I worked all the way through Covid, but with the added responsibility of being the only person in my household not immuno-compromised, I had to do all the risky going out stuff. I can still remember my first vaccination. It took place at the Towngate Theatre in Basildon, Essex. Socially distanced, a few people waited in silence for a nurse to call out names. When I finally had my turn, I came out of there crying with relief.

I'd been providing book synopses to Paramount for many months by this time and so when restrictions began to ease I found myself wondering what was going on. The contract was signed, we were full steam ahead, as far as I knew, but then suddenly, the script writer was changed. It wasn't until 2022 that actual filming began in Istanbul .

I went out to the set in October 2022 and had the great joy of meeting the cast and crew and watching the filming. It was a brilliant experience. Now teamed with Turkish production company Ay Yapim, Paramout/Viacom  had  created brilliant sets, and the location work was absolutely beautiful. A big moment was meeting the actor who plays Cetin Ikmen, Haluk Bilginer. He is currently Turkey's most famous and popular actor and spent the early part of his career here in the UK starring in 'Eastenders'. Since then, he has starred in film and TV in Turkey, the UK and Hollywood. When asked who I would like to play Ikmen, he was my first choice, so I was delighted. What can I say? Charm and charisma in spades - he IS Ikmen and I really hope our audience fall in love with him. In fact, I can't really see how anyone could not!

Originally the series was destined to be screened on Paramount + but due to a lot of incomprehensible (to me) oings in the industry that didn't happen. However, last year I heard that the BBC were interested. I was sworn to secrecy but now here we are, and I can tell the world. Called The Turkish Detective it is an 8 part series which will be screened on BBC2 at 9pm starting on Sunday 7th July 2024. Episode 2 will then be screened at 9pm on Monday 8th July and then the remaining episodes over the next three weeks.

I know that this happens to very few writers, and I am truly grateful to everyone who has had the courage and belief to bring Ikmen to the small screen. As those of you who know me will attest, I am a weird yobbo from the East End of London. I make no apologies for that and in fact I am proud to have come up from absolutely nothing. I just hope that more of us will 'get through' in the future and will always use whatever voice I have to help others. In the meantime, I really hope you enjoy The Turkish Detective and, even more crucially, the books upon which it is based.

Barbara Nadel was born and brought up in the East End of London. She has a degree in psychology and, prior to becoming a full-time author, she worked in psychiatric institutions and in the community with people experiencing mental health problems. She is also the author of the award-winning Inspector Ikmen series and received the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger for the seventh novel in the series Deadly Web. There are now 27 books in the series. Her most recent book is Web of Lies, the eighth book in the series featuring Lee Arnold and Mumtaz Hakim who run a detective agency in London's East End. Barbara now lives in Essex.