This is how it started. A small boy I’d glimpsed on a street in Peckham, his sleeping bag on his back like a nylon snail.
From that came pages of notes about a boy called Tom, who eventually turned into Joe, who became the star of a book, and then a real boy again, who appeared in a TV series, which last night won its very own BAFTA. I’m still reeling from the ridiculousness and brilliance of it.
And as I didn’t get to dress up in my ballgown and parade like Cinderella (I fell over and hurt my knee and had to get the results on my sofa via Twitter), I have a few people to thank who all went into the making of the book and the TV series:
My old agent Sarah Molloy who told me to write the idea.
My new agent Julia Churchill who sold it.
My editor Karen Ball who bought it and then sold it again to Steven Andrew at Zodiak, who sold it to CBBC.
Nadine Marsh-Edwards who produced it, and Beryl Richards who directed it, and especially already-BAFTA-winning Guy Burt who wrote the scripts.
And the stars themselves: Daniel Frogson as Joe, Liani Samuel as Asha, Joe Sims as Dean, Kellie Shirley as Mum, Harrison Slater as Perry Fletcher, Tom Godwin as The Watcher, Erin Shanagher as Miss Granger, Shobu Kapoor as the social worker, and the wonderful Vas Blackwood as Otis. Thank you all. You’ve made one small boy, and me, very happy.
About Joanna Nadin
A former broadcast journalist and special adviser to the prime minister, since leaving politics I’ve written more than 80 books for children and adults, as well as speeches for politicians, and articles for newspapers and magazines like The Guardian, Red and The Amorist. I also lecture in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, and hold a doctorate in young adult literature.
I’m a winner of the Fantastic Book Award and the Surrey Book Award, and have been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, the Booktrust Best Book award and Queen of Teen among others, and twice nominated for the Carnegie Medal, for Everybody Hurts, and for Joe All Alone, which is now a BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated BBC TV series. I've also worked with Sir Chris Hoy on the Flying Fergus series and ghost-written Angry Birds under another name.
I like London, New York, Essex, tea, cake, Marmite, mint imperials, prom dresses, pubs, that bit in the West Wing where Donna tells Josh she wouldn’t stop for a red light if he was in an accident, junk shops, crisps, Cornwall, St Custard’s, Portuguese custard tarts, political geeks, pin-up swimsuits, the Regency, high heels, horses, old songs, my Grandma’s fur coat, vinyl, liner notes, the smell of old books, the feel of a velveteen monkey, Guinness, quiffs, putting my hand in a bin of chicken feed, the 1950s, burlesque, automata, fiddles, flaneuring, gigs in fields on warm summer nights, Bath, the bath.
Joanna Nadin 