Phil Rickman R.I.P.

I was sorry to hear that Phil Rickman died on 29 October at the age of 74. He was a writer whose work straddled the mystery and supernatural genres. Although born in Lancashire, he lived in Wales for most of his life and he had a great affinity with the country. He wrote three books under the name Will Kingdom, and two as Thom Madley, but he is best-known for the novels he wrote under his own name which featured Merrily Watkins.

I didn't know Phil well, but on my few encounters with him I found him extremely pleasant. Our first connection came when he interviewed me a couple of times on Radio Wales about the Lake District Mysteries. Landscape interested him and he evoked it well in his own work. He was a good broadcaster and a very capable interviewer. We finally met in person fifteen years ago, when we both took part in an enjoyable event held in a terrific historic setting - Ludlow Castle. 

On that occasion Phil revealed that he was in talks with regard to the televising of the Merrily books, although such is the nature of the TV world that six more years were to pass before Merrily finally reached the screen. A year or so later, he was involved with the CWA annual conference when it was held on his 'patch' in Abergavenny. A fun weekend, as I recall.

Merrily, a female priest who is an exorcist, was played on television by Anna Maxwell Martin in a three-parter called Midwinter of the Spirit. The cast also included David Threlfall and Siobhan Finneran. I enjoyed watching it, but for whatever reason, Merrily did not become a fixture on the screen. On Phil's website, there are some comments which give clues to his dissatisfaction - he regarded himself first and foremost as a crime writer rather than a horror writer and he saw the Merrily books as crime stories, albeit seen from the perspective of an exorcist. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he felt that the TV version wasn't fully in tune with the novel on which it was based. But as he said, he couldn't complain, and he continued to write quietly accomplished fiction that was both polished and very readable.