Robert Jones interview

Robert Jones currently has two series running on the BBC. Tom Green talks to him about how they came into being and why he’s still proud of his BAFTA winning series Buried.

TG: Two series you created – Rough Diamond (BBC One) and Party Animals (BBC Two, co-created with Ben Richards) are currently running; how did they come about?

RJ: Looking back through my notes recently I saw that Ben and I first went to the Labour Party Conference in 2002, so I guess that was our first research for Party Animals. The BBC was looking for ways to engage people in politics and we thought a good ‘precinct’ might be a think tank, so we pitched a show to them. They liked the characters but didn’t take it up for several years. Then they came back to us with the idea that rather than working for a think tank the characters could somehow be more in the heart of things.

That seems a reasonable suggestion .

Yes, I think it was a good note. The think tank phenomenon was probably quite short lived and with the re-emergence of the Tories under David Cameron there were more possibilities. So we reinvented the characters as researchers and it seemed to work. Unfortunately, because Rough Diamond came along at the same time, while I did planning and storyline work on Party Animals, I only actually got to write one episode – Ben Richards and Fintan Ryan wrote the others.

And where did the idea for Rough Diamond come from?

Tony Garnett (from World Productions) and I had both worked on Ballykissangel and we wanted to do another series set in Ireland. Tony had the idea of a horse racing drama and I went away to research and write it. The BBC were reluctant at first – they didn’t think there was a large audience for a racing-based series. But we argued that most of the drama took place away from the track, and that’s what we would concentrate on. I had to do some quite major rewriting but then it was made very quickly.

Both shows are in high profile slots, which mean they get a lot of attention from critics and the pressure to deliver ratings. How has that been for you?

I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction to Rough Diamond. It’s a prime-time Sunday night family drama and critics could have picked it apart but, on the whole, they’ve engaged with it on its own terms. The ratings have been pretty good too, in a tough slot. I thought Party Animals would get a better response from the critics. Journalists took a huge interest in it from the start and it’s the only time I’ve been interviewed for the Today programme! In fact, we were interrogated as if we were MPs ourselves. Perhaps that should have given me an inkling about what to expect, because once it aired people either seemed to love it or hate it. Again, though, the ratings have held up okay.

Talking of ratings and critics, one of your previous series, Buried (Channel 4) was adored by the press but didn’t get re-commissioned. That must have been very disappointing.

It was. Jimmy Gardner (writer), Kath Mattock (producer) and I had worked together on Cops for World Productions and it seemed natural to turn from law enforcement to incarceration. It all went ahead very quickly and we had a real freedom creating the series. Lennie James was our first choice for the lead role, and he was terrific. The set was fantastic, everything went well. But, as you say, even though the critics loved it, we didn’t get the audience that Channel 4 felt was needed. We won a BAFTA for best drama series and were well into developing series two, so it was very frustrating not to get re-commissioned.

What’s your sense about the kind of drama series commissioners are looking for at the moment?

“Feelgood” is a word I’m hearing a lot - Rough Diamond is a feelgood show. No one, in series at least, seems to be digging too deep. Then again, as someone right in the middle of the system, I might not be the best person to ask.

And what about your future plans?

Well, we’re hoping that Rough Diamond and Party Animals will get second series. And I’m working on an adaptation of The Final Solution by Michael Chabon, which is a book I love. Would you like to have a go at writing feature films? Definitely. I’m slightly wary of the frustrations that can arise – at least with TV once its green-lit it tends to happen pretty quickly – but I’d love to have a crack at it.

Party Animals is on Wednesday nights, 9pm on BBC Two. Rough Diamond is on Sundays, 8pm, BBC One.