Liberace’s collaboration with Bob Dylan; Kraftwerk’s Christmas album; Morrissey in panto. Cheese and Marmite? I mention it every chance I get as revenge for him using me as a character in one of his books and giving that character a Phil Collins ringtone! You and I have done enough together, so I know that you’re much the same. The reader knows as much, book on book, as I do. Camp Nanowrimo, anyone? Seriously, very fun and love the books. Never. One of the things that helps I think is that I genuinely have no plan for Thorne, no dossier about him. Oh, that is cruel. I did the same thing with the previous standalone (In The Dark) as I think it’s a nice way of giving the fans of the series a hint about what might be coming next. So many of us love and appreciate you! Can’t say too much, other than it’s basically a twisted kind of road trip which Thorne has to take alongside an old adversary. Music plays an important part in your novels. I'm just trying to balance being a lawyer and a writer (writers win that contest as well). @nilslofgren @azsweetheart013 I’m so sorry, you guys. In fact, I reckon there’s a spin off series in it. Well I probably won’t be doing it again. Great interview! Which leads us on to . You’re on. He’s also (for the sake of full disclosure) one of my best friends. It could take over the Lovejoy slot on BBC1 on a Sunday evening. You remember when you and I were at a. Great Lost Albums was a comedy book I wrote with Martyn Waites, Stav Sherez and David Quantick, in which we examined some of the greatest, lostest recordings ever made, that we made up. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’d drop almost anything if we could write Pie Man and Sausage Boy. How long do you see him going on for? @laurenthehough A hundred percent. I think the fact that Thorne loves this stuff says a lot about him. I’m really looking forward to the next Tania Carver novel, “I Want To Break Free”. Then we’d have to develop our plans for the Pie Man and Sausage Boy graphic novel series. Your email address will not be published. Now. I’ll certainly be breaking it up with standalones to try and make sure the series stays fresh. This clip is from an episode I co-wrote. Or, maybe not. Ex-actor and stand up comic Mark Billingham is, quite simply, one of the best crime writers going. To view more videos of Mark, check out his YouTube channel. Here is a clip of us performing in October on a TV show for Sky Arts – playing as a five-piece due to the fact that Val was working in New Zealand at … Now, you always seem perfectly happy to work within the crime genre. I love that the company of people who write about murder and crime is nicer than the company of people who try to make you laugh. Putting music you hate into books though, bad move, just like dressing them in clothes you couldn't abide. Mark has been described as: Sharp and entertaining The Guardian. Didn't read the YA so will hunt for those. In the case of the Will Peterson novels, I was making the sandwiches. ... T-shirt and a blue hat. I miss the buzz of performing rather more than I miss the company of comedians. Oh, I do indeed. Can you remember that radio interview we did together in Leicester? Yeah, it’s probably worth doing just for that. This is an excerpt from a documentary I made about the greatest TV cop show of all time. The books were as dark as any of my crime novels with body counts that were higher, if anything. In retrospect it was a mistake to write the trilogy of Triskellion novels under a pseudonym (Will Peterson) and they may have sold better if I’d stuck my name on them but I was writing them with somebody else (my old TV partner Peter Cocks) and I’m always suspicious when I see two names on the cover of a book. Truly, one of the most generous, witty, and daft, um, talented writers in the crime-writing brood. (For those who haven't see it, imagine all the above snark with BRITISH ACCENTS.). Bar none. (and how to overcome it). I know! Answer these 3 questions first. Every time, always. I was wrong. It’s the great worry for those of us that write series, isn’t it? This is amazing. He’ll be dealing with the ramifications of that in The Dying Hours which is coming in May. Playing Gary in the cult kids’ TV show Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, I got to spend four years running about in a forest with a big sword. For a few* quid and some beer, the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers will happily rock up and rock out at any festival that fancies inviting us. Mmm. Well I’m a big Marmite fan, and knowing how much it upsets Stuart just makes every mouthful even tastier. Are you perchance referring to the ludicrous mistake I made in the first Thorne novel, Sleepyhead? Spam to you then. Marmite. You know how much that hurts me, Martyn? William Billingham, the father of stabbing victim Mylee Billingham, 8, and brother of TV star Mark Billingham (pictured) pleaded not guilty to her murder at Woolwich Crown Court today. Rush of Blood. He relishes the bigoted reaction it provokes, as do I. I know I’m not alone in this. If so, what would it be? ... Mark talked dirty, waxed lyrical about animal husbandry and took the piss out of people’s shirts. So without further ado, here’s the lad himself . I’m always asking myself who was doing the writing and who was making the sandwiches. Writing’s a very different kind of life to stand up comedy. You have to deal with it over and over, with the urge to edit it all out just hanging there. How did that come about as a standalone? MARK BILLINGHAM shot to fame as one of the stars of Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, where he is an instructor to the recruits. I'm really good at making sandwiches….marmite? It was a really enjoyable break from the series even if it sometimes felt scary to be outside my comfort zone. . The best job I ever had. From both of us, I think you’ll find. Well, thanks for saying that. Mark Billingham Crime Fiction Writer. Should you feel inclined to watch, here are a few examples of the more showy-off side of what is laughably called my ‘career’, but has really been a concerted and largely successful effort to avoid a proper job…. As a regular performer and MC at London’s world famous Comedy Store, Mark talked dirty, waxed lyrical about animal husbandry and took the piss out of people’s shirts. I feel exactly the same. So along with the country (Cash, Williams, Nelson etc) I gave him a taste for techno and speed garage – music which I personally cannot abide. It was a great gig, though. Is that just to annoy Stuart MacBride? I think as I write more I become less interested in the crash bang wallop of crime fiction and am starting to focus more on what John Harvey calls the ‘looking out of the window’ moments. Of course you are. Where do you get your shirts from? I popped up in one of his as a big-nosed, Geordie, western shirt wearing Elvis impersonator. I see him going on as long as I’m still finding it interesting to write about him. Your email address will not be published. Thorne. Like a great many crime writers (mostly the male ones) I’m a frustrated rock star. Music is hugely important to me – as I know it is to you – and though I don’t listen to it while I’m actually at my desk, I’m listening to it most other times, so it always finds its way into the books. I may have gotten off lightly. Like food? I certainly don’t miss hanging out in a grotty dressing room in the early hours of the morning or trying to get laughs out of an audience who are tired or drunk or both. You’re right of course, I tend to get my performing jollies at book events. Stand-up comedy and crime fiction may not be as different as they seem. I’ll always write crime novels, but I certainly don’t want to write the same crime novel again and again. Oh Christ, shoot me. I don’t need very much encouragement to start performing…. Would you consider writing outside of it? Here I am putting people off their Corn Flakes on BBC Breakfast. He relishes the bigoted reaction it provokes, as do I. I know I’m not alone in this. Well, obviously I get them from the same place you do because on several occasions we have turned up at book events wearing identical shirts. The murder suspect's brother Mark Billingham MBE is one of the stars of Channel 4's SAS Who Dares Wins and was once a private body guard for Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise. A great conversation. I’ve already mentioned the new Thorne novel which is called The Dying Hours and is out on May 23rd. A massively talented comedian The Manchester Evening News. Right now it’s a toss up between a grisly death, and a happy retirement in domestic bliss with Phil Hendricks – running a nice antique shop in the Cotswolds. Or do your performing itches get scratched by doing book events? We recorded an album and toured a show called The Other Half and this is a clip of the show’s finale, where I finally got to strap on an axe (guitar) and sing (wail) a country classic. We looked around and most of the crime writers in London were in that audience! So many books, so little time. One of the very best of the newer talents The Sunday Times. Seriously!? Oh, this is so much fun. We must be the only writers around who need to text one another prior to an event or a festival appearance; not to discuss running order or format but simply to check what shirts we are wearing. Oh, indeed. Thorne is trying to deal with a major change in circumstances as far as the job goes, at the same time as trying to catch a killer who seems able to make people take their own lives. Absolutely. How’s your new book coming by the way? Well, you know how much I love comics, Martyn…. . You probably have the second best sartorial excellence in the crime fiction world (after me, of course). I’m thrilled to be a member of Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a twisted collective of musically-inclined crime writers – myself, Doug Johnstone, Luca Veste, Stuart Neville, Chris Brookmyre and Val McDermid – who enjoy murdering songs for fun. I wrote three YA novels and for those three years I was writing two books a year and I don’t think I can do that again. Although if you ever do a book about Phil Hendricks going bad you could call it Killer Queen …. Also, I’m now tucked in, and can testify that going to bed between the nice sheets, on the fluffy pillow, is what we deserve. I was wrong. @Sifill_LDF @glamourmag Wow. Of course you are. The processs is exactly the same. You two are always good for some laughs. Read Mark’s essay on the subject – So This Serial Killer Walks Into A Bar…. New book is THE BETTER SISTER. So readers of Rush Of Blood will know what’s happened to Thorne since they last saw him in Good As Dead. Marmite. Lovely. .’ Oh how we laughed about that. Back then I thought that I could not possibly give Thorne the same taste in music as I had. A massively talented comedian Once again, no Coldplay records were bought or listened to during the making of this novel. My apologies. It was always going to be a standalone. That was the night I realized that with this crime writer/music thing, we’d all gone beyond parody. Are you perchance referring to the ludicrous mistake I made in the first Thorne novel, Sleepyhead? Do you miss stand up comedy at all? It’s a feature where guests are invited to let rip and complain, so I decided to get on my high horse and sound off about something that really winds me up…. Isn't it the dregs of a beer barrel or something? Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends etc etc, but many of them are deeply twisted, frighteningly needy and horribly competitive. Eventually. These songs are bleak, black stories but told in an entertaining and melodic fashion. The only book with the same title as a Queen song should be Brighton Rock.