Mark Billingham in Conversation at Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival
By Sarah Morgan, July 2025
How does one celebrate 25 years in the same job?
Maybe you get a gold clock or some other material reward – unless you’re a crime writer. Then you get to spend your anniversary surrounded by friends and fans at the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.
At least that’s what’s happening to Mark Billingham. It’s a quarter of a century since Tom Thorne, his most famous detective, made his debut in the comedian/actor/musician/author’s first novel, Sleepyhead. It’s a landmark he never thought he’d reach.
Billingham admits that long before putting pen to paper, he was something of a fanboy – and as he always seems so supremely confident, it may surprise some readers to find that when it came to his literary heroes, he was a bit of a scaredy cat (which is, incidentally, the title of one of his books).
“When I first started (writing), I was so nervous, I hung out at events to interview people like Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly,” he reveals. “To think they’re mates now never ceases to amaze me.
“You’re influenced by everything you read, and I was just soaking it all up. But I never imagined I’d still be writing about Thorne all these years later. He was just somebody I slapped on the page without much thought. Then when publishers started asking me if it was the first of a series, I just said yes, and it went on from there.”
The latest Thorne novel, What the Night Brings, is Billingham’s 25th in total, and 19th to feature the character in a central role; he claims he’s made cameos in his other books, you just have to look hard for mentions of him, because they’re not always by name.
Nevertheless, he claims: “I don’t know anything more about Tom Thorne than anybody who’s read the books. I don’t have a plan or a dossier on him. If he has blue eyes in one book and brown in another, it’s just because I messed up.”
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He also reckons the latest entry in the series is the trickiest yet: “It’s the first time in 25 years that I’ve had to put a note in asking readers not to give away any spoilers.”
Over the years, Billingham has also written standalones and, more recently, begun a new series featuring Declan Miller, a straight-talking, Blackpool-based, ballroom-loving detective created after he was asked to write an aborted BBC TV drama for an actor who had recently won Strictly Come Dancing (he isn’t saying who, but promises you can figure it out by looking at a list of winners).
“I wanted to write something where humour was front and centre. I come from a comedy background, and I believe that comedy is tragedy plus time.
“If Declan thinks of a joke, he comes out with it, no matter the situation, he doesn’t care. I love writing about him.”
Although his two franchises are very different in tone, what they do have in common is they always put the victim front and centre, something he decided upon after being kidnapped and held hostage in a Manchester hotel room in 1997.
“I wanted to write about what it is to be scared, what it is to be a victim. Not like a sharp shock type scare, but one where you don’t know if you’re going to see your wife and kids again.
“I always think if you can’t remember the name of the victim, then it’s a bad crime novel. They’re important.”
He’s also uninterested in depicting graphic violence, saying: “I learnt early on that less is more. You don’t need violence on the page. Anything a reader can conjure up in their heads is worse than you can write.”
As for the future of the genre he loves, Billingham claims it’s in rude health. During his career as a crime writer, some of the greats, such as PD James and Colin Dexter, have passed away, but there are new voices emerging all the time.
“The state of the genre is phenomenal. I think we’re in a second golden age. There are some amazing writers out there in their twenties.”
At the age of 64, Billingham is now one of the elder statesmen himself. Can he make it to 50 years in the business? If he does, we’ve all got a reason to celebrate.
images: Gerard Binks Photography
Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.
