From Novel to Screen: Bringing Victorian Bradford to Life.

Much of my writing begins with a question about Bradford’s past. Recently, another question has been occupying me: how might these stories work on screen?

I have been developing a screenplay adaptation of Fragments of Truth. It is a different kind of writing, even when the characters, setting and central story are already familiar. A scene that works well in a novel may need considerable thought before it earns its place in a screenplay.

The ambition is to bring Victorian Bradford to life in a way that allows an audience to enter its streets, hear its voices and follow the investigation as it unfolds. At present, this is a screenplay in development. There is no production announcement to make, but there is plenty of work going on behind the scenes., involving several well known and popular broadcasters.

What the camera can see

In a novel, I can take the reader into a character’s thoughts. I can explain why a remark troubles Withers, what a witness is afraid of, or how an investigator begins to suspect that an account does not quite fit.

On screen, those things need an outward expression. A hesitation before answering might reveal something. So might a glance towards the door, an object carefully put away, or a person remaining silent when we expect them to speak. The audience needs enough evidence to draw its own conclusions. That has consequences for dialogue. Words which are useful on the page can become unnecessary when an actor’s expression already tells us what we need to know. Equally, cutting too much can leave a scene without the information that makes it understandable. Finding that balance is part of the work. The aim is to preserve the substance of the story while allowing it to move naturally in its new form.

A mystery built from conflicting accounts

Fragments of Truth lends itself to this process because so much of the story concerns testimony, loyalty and concealment.

An investigation depends on what people are prepared to say. It also depends on what they leave out, whether deliberately or because they cannot bear to face it.

That creates an interesting challenge for a screenplay. The audience must be able to follow the inquiry without having every uncertainty explained away. A witness should remain a person with something at stake, rather than simply someone who supplies the next clue.

The same applies to the investigators. Their work needs to feel purposeful, but they cannot arrive at an answer merely because the story requires one. We need to see how they reach it, and what makes them question their earlier assumptions.

Bradford has to feel lived in

For me, the setting matters as much as the mechanics of the mystery. Victorian Bradford needs to be a place where people work, worship, raise families and try to get through the week.

The investigation takes place within that life. It affects people who still have duties to perform and livelihoods to protect. Much of this can be conveyed through small choices: how someone addresses a policeman, the space available in a room, the clothing worn for work, or who feels entitled to speak.

Language needs similar care. I want dialogue that belongs convincingly to the period and the people speaking it, while remaining clear to a modern audience. Yorkshire voices should have their own character without making every line a lesson in dialect.

The next stage of the story

Developing the screenplay has also made me examine the novel afresh. When there is less room to explain, it becomes very clear which actions and exchanges carry the story forward.

There is still work to do before I know where this adaptation might lead. Turning a script into a production requires people, resources and decisions well beyond the writing itself. For now, the task is to give Fragments of Truth the strongest screenplay I can.

I would like an audience to feel that they have spent time in Victorian Bradford: to have met its people, understood something of their difficulties, and become caught up in a truth that is harder to uncover than it first appears.

I’ll share more as the work progresses., and when I am allowed to.