Usually, political thrillers contain elements of recent political events in order to appear realistic and engage more closely with their audience. For example, after the events of 9/11 in 2001, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of plots reguarding terrorism.
Today, it is clear that with the recent MP expenses scandal and current Iraq Inquiry, the prominant public attitude towards the Government is mistrust.
We thought that this cultural feeling of betrayal was both powerful material for a thriller narrative and emotionally engaging for the audience, so we decided to base our plot on perhaps the most controversial political event of the last decade; the mysterious death of Dr David Kelly and the Hutton Inquiry.
We were particularly drawn to this event because...
- it has remained in the public conscience since 2003,
- it already has an ambiguous mood surrounding it, which stems from the suspicious lack of evidence and numberous conspiracy theories,
- While investigating Kelly's death, Normon Baker (MP and author of the book, 'the strange death of David Kelly') experienced strange events, including the intimidation of his female assistant, and the unexplained wiping of his computer hard disk,
- only last year, six senior doctors called for the Inquiry to be re-opened due to insufficient evidence - once again fanning the flames of conspiracy therorists.
Campbell has a guilty conscience about something. Certainly if Blair knew they were going to war with Iraq whether or not there were weapons of mass destruction it was evil to hound Dr David Kelly to death. See The strange case of the death of Dr David Kelly, UN Weapons Inspector.
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