SCOT- LAND - Scottish Screen

made in scotlanD TV
Gregory Burke on
One
Night in
Emergency
A
one-off drama for BBC Scotland
and Silver River Productions, One
Night in Emergency marks the
small-screen debut of one of Scotland’s
most acclaimed writers, Gregory
Burke. Burke’s Black Watch won him
an Olivier award and made him the
toast of theatres worldwide through this
National Theatre of Scotland production.
Starring Kevin McKidd and Michelle
Ryan, Burke’s TV debut is a star-studded
piece featuring Ewen Bremner, Jamie
Sives, David Hayman, James Cosmo,
Gary Lewis and Tam Dean Burn.
But while the story of One Night in
Emergency takes inspiration from
Homer’s The Odyssey, the germ of the
idea came from Burke’s own unhappy
experience of a London hospital.
“My partner was taken into hospital. I
went to meet her and found she hadn’t
yet received any treatment. It was a
chaotic scene, as A & E departments
often are on a Saturday night, and
I, perhaps unwisely, expressed my
frustration to the hard pressed staff
about the delay,” says Burke. “As
we waited, there was this feeling of
helplessness that occurs when a loved
one is suffering and you can do nothing
to help. It’s something I’ve never
forgotten but I didn’t immediately see
how it could be dramatised.”
Encouraged by Dan Hine of Silver River,
and by watching the Romanian film
The Death of Mr Lazarescu, Burke set
about creating One Night in Emergency,
although he’s quick to point out that
it’s in no way a criticism of the NHS: “I
didn’t want to do that at all. It’s about
a man who is lost, and can’t get to the
person he loves, and I thought of it
like The Odyssey, which
is one man’s quest to get
home before calamity
befalls him, so I used the
myth of Odysseus to hang
the structure on,” says
Burke. “But it’s definitely
not an adaptation, more
of a pillaging, really. Peter
(Kevin McKidd) comes
up against a number
of obstacles, including
his nemesis, a one-eyed
security guard (Yigal Naor), who
represents the Cyclops in many ways. I
wanted the character of Peter to be a
young, urban professional, who has
rejected religion, who doesn’t rely on
others, who thinks his life is all his own
creation, and that everything would
disappear in a puff of smoke without
him. What he discovers is that he’s
not immune, and what breaks down
his arrogance is his experience of a
casualty ward.”
Crossing over from theatre to television
has proved a substantial obstacle for
many writers, but Burke feels that the
support he got from Silver River made
this easier to achieve, despite the high
expectations that work like Gargarin
Way, Black Watch and his recent play
Hoors has created.
“Michael Offer came on board to direct,
and asked me about the elements of
mythology and how important they
were; he was keen to make sure that
the transition to reality from this
mythic, otherworldly place would work
smoothly. He’s got a lot of experience,
and was able to help tweak the hospitalgenre
rules to create something new.”
“I do have more ambitions to
write for television.”
- Gregory Burke
It might surprise many to know that
Burke never set out to be a theatre
writer, but feels that he happened into
it by happy accident. When One Night
in Emergency goes out, he’s hoping that
it’ll help pave the way for other nontheatre
work.
“I never set out to be a theatre writer,
because to be honest, most of my
influences were people like Alan Clarke,
Alan Bleasdale and people who wrote
for Play for Today. If it hadn’t been for
the success of Gagarin Way, I’m not
sure I’d have continued writing plays. I
feel totally comfortable watching rushes
on-set or watching the first rough-cut. I
have a tiny role in the piece and I found
that being on set helped me understand
a lot more about how a television
programme is made. So yes, I do have
more ambitions to write for television,
I’ve done well from theatre, but I’m
open to offers as to where I go next.”
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