A Victorian Affair
In early February 2004, keeley-hawes.co.uk conducted an email interview with Maureen Jennings.
Maureen Jennings, the author of the Detective Murdoch Mysteries series of novels, has always been intrigued by Toronto’s Victorian heritage — so much so that she’s been known to spend weeks at a time researching the individual social groups featured in each of her books.
She is, it would seem, very much a woman in touch with her material.
Born in England, but a Canadian citizen for most of her life, Maureen is both a graduate in Philosophy and Psychology, as well as in English Literature. This mixed interest led her from an eight-year teaching job in English to a position as a Psychotherapist, but forever with one eye on writing. She has over the years written a selection of plays and short novellas, from her first published work ‘Ash Wednesday‘ through to the early 90s plays ‘The Black Ace‘ and ‘No Traveller Returns‘ — featuring her seemingly favourite subject, a Canadian Detective at the turn of the century.
Maureen has at present penned five stories revolving around the Roman Catholic Detective with a taste for forensics, with a sixth on the way it seems she has no intentions of stopping there. What with the recent adaptations of the first three novels: ‘Except the Dying‘ and ‘Poor Tom is Cold‘ in 2003 and ‘Under the Dragon’s Tail‘ in 2004, it seems to merely fuel her desire to see where William Murdoch will end up next.
In early February keeley-hawes.co.uk conducted an email interview with Maureen, below is a transcript:
What did you initially think about the added-weight the people adapting your novels intended to give to the character of Dr Ogden?
I was ambivalent mostly because she had to take the place of a character I had developed, Mrs Enid Jones a young widow with a small son who moves into Murdoch’s boarding house. I had named her after a dear school friend of mine, Enid, and I liked the relationship that I could depict between Enid, a Baptist and Murdoch, a Roman Catholic. On the other hand, I think Janet Maclean the script writer did develop a character in Julia Ogden that I really liked.
Upon seeing the finished adaptations what do you think of the…
(a) Overall feel / tone of the pieces?
By the time I got to actually see the movies I was fairly resigned to the fact that there were many changes from the books but I was most happy about the overall feel and the tone. We were blessed to get terrific actors and production. Peter Outerbridge as Murdoch is perfect and the director Michael De Carlo was brilliant. I was afraid they would have all sorts of anachronisms which drive me crazy in so called historical movies but they didn’t at all and the sets, costumes and lighting were totally authentic seeming. I thought the movies have a “bottom”, as it were, which isn’t always attainable in mysteries which must of their nature move along a plot.
(b) The extension of Dr Ogden’s role?
While they were actually shooting, the producers were so excited by Keeley’s work and the relationship between her and Peter, they asked the script writer to rework some scenes and add more that would involve Dr Ogden. I thought the new scenes were inspired especially the little scene in the park where she shows him mesmerism.
(c) Keeley’s performance as Dr Ogden?
Keeley is so charming as Dr Ogden. She looks completely natural in period costume and manages to present a fully developed character. She is so different from Zoë in Spooks; you would hardly believe it’s the same person acting both. I had a fantasy that she should have her own series, Dr Ogden.
(c.ii) Regarding a Dr Ogden spin-off — is this something you’d be personally interested in developing as a novel anthology, or more of a fascination in particular with the performance Keeley gave?
I think my fantasy was a TV series starring Keeley. I know there was a series in UK a few years ago. I forget what it was called but I know it starred one of the Redgrave kin [Bramwell with Jemma Redgrave] as a female doctor at the turn of the century. There was also something here called Medicine Woman [Dr Quinn, starring Jane Seymour] about a pioneer doctor. I could see this wonderful strong character, dealing with patients, the occasional post mortem, being female in a male world. Somebody else will have to write it but who knows, if she comes back here and the Murdoch mysteries do well, I will suggest it to the producers.
How has the adapting of your novels by others effected how you now write your novels?
While the films were going on I was in the middle of book five, now finished, and I am writing book six. I think because I had four books out and the main characters were quite established, the adaptations haven’t directly affected the way I write, although I certainly find myself seeing Peter Outerbridge in some of the scenes.
Is there any scene in the adaptations that you wished you had written? Which? Why?
As I said, I do love the scene in the park with Keeley and Peter. It is charming and funny and very much in character. I also like the dancing scenes. Murdoch dances in my books but obviously not with Doctor Ogden and I thought it was a lovely touch to have her an awkward dancer as well. Having been taught dancing in an all girl’s class, my favourite line is when she says, “I used to do the boy’s part.”
Do you plan on writing many more Murdoch inspired novels, or do you see a shelf life for the character(s)?
I am on book six and I hope to continue until I run out of ideas. In this book, he has a new love interest who I really like so I want to string that out a bit more. I like to write around a theme, i.e. book five is about the evil of child pornography which existed in those times as well. This book is about the life of the paupers, as they were called. Next time I want to write in depth about the Jewish population who were so segregated in Victorian Toronto.
If you do continue to write the novels will / have you begun to incorporate the romance instigated in the adaptations?
I thought about it but it felt like cheating, taking somebody else’s creation really. In book six, Dr Ogden does show up but she is a completely different personality from the screen Ogden and there is no romance. Murdoch does fall in love with a schoolteacher and I have to let the script writers work that out.
With regards to the differences between yours and the scriptwriter’s visions of Murdoch’s romances, were there any provisory issues in regards to what direction you were allowed to take the characters? [Specifically, in regards to Murdoch’s love life on paper as apposed to on screen, or did they realise that as adaptors they were getting the bones of your stories — the plotlines and feel as opposed to the exacting details of his life?]
In terms of adaptations and writers, after the contract is signed the writer has no say in the adaptation. In my case, Shaftesbury very graciously showed me two drafts of the scripts and listened to my comments. I was VERY relieved that they didn’t go all ‘sexy’ on me which would have been anachronistic. The Murdoch in the movies is very constrained and shy around Ogden. They do give him an erotic dream which was a great way to handle the requisite sex scene. They used a lot of the detail from the books and this was helped because Peter Outerbridge took them to heart and studied the books ahead of time. We have become good pals now as he lives very near to us and it is great having somebody on my side. I don’t think they left anything out really.
What specifically draws you to the Victorian era? And why set it in Toronto and not London?
I just really liked it. I actually love history period. I would love to have set a book in London and have read tons about Victorian London but I can’t imagine writing about somewhere that I don’t know well. Toronto’s history really started in the 1800’s and it has been a lot of fun researching it. The archives are accessible and so on.
You’ve written plays in the past, have you ever considered writing a screen / teleplay yourself?
Initially, I fantasized about that but I soon realized it is such a different skill and requires knowledge I don’t have. That said, I think I would like to work with somebody else on a film script. Actually not a Murdoch. It is too difficult to adapt one’s own work. There are scenes in the books that I am fond of that weren’t in the script and the cutting out would be hard.
With the next two Murdoch novels: ‘Let Loose the Dogs‘ and ‘Night’s Child‘ under development with Shaftesbury Films, the international sales of the first three adaptations, and a sixth novel in writing, Maureen and Murdoch’s futures look very much entwined.
All five of Maureen’s current Murdoch novels; ‘Except the Dying,’ ‘Poor Tom is Cold,’ ‘Under the Dragon’s Tail,’ ‘Let Loose the Dogs‘ and ‘Night’s Child‘ are available to purchase from Amazon, or any other good book retailer.
(Source: keeley-hawes.co.uk)