Lissa Evans
Lissa Evans, writer and television producer/director, on how she researched her novel Their Finest Hour and a Half, long-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009.
"I had never researched anything before embarking on this novel. I knew that I wanted to write about the making of a British film during World War II, but beyond that, I had little idea of the shape of the plot, or of the range of characters. The research turned out to be a real adventure – a journey that took in written and taped archives, feature films, propaganda shorts, novels, eyewitness accounts, fan mags, scripts, newspapers, leaflets, a trip to the North Norfolk Coast (oh the glamour!) and the memories of those who worked in film during the 1940s. I also discovered that although many things in the industry have changed, the endless drama that goes on behind the scenes hasn’t altered in the least..."
Lissa Evans spent four years as a junior doctor, before becoming a radio comedy producer. She co-created Room 101 for Radio 4, and took the concept to television where it ran for eleven series on BBC2. She was the producer of the second and third series of Father Ted (Channel 4 tx), and the director and co-producer of The Kumars at Number 42 (BBC tx).
Her first novel, Spencer’s List was published in 2002, and her second, Odd One Out, in 2004.
