Tom McGregor

Tom McGregor, author of the book The Making of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower, spoke with A&E about the life on the set.

A&E: Did you go on location during the filming of Horatio Hornblower?

TM: I went on location twice. I went to the Crimea where they filmed most of the sea scenes (and about which I could write several surreal, tragic, comic or quite simply unbelievable books) and to Portugal where most of the land-based scenes were shot. In the Crimea I spent most of my time on the ship, as did most of the cast and crew. That was wonderful for interviewing people -- they couldn't escape me and my microphone. In Portugal, I again spent most of my time with the cast and crew, with the occasional siesta by the pool at the hotel. It was sod's law that every time I did the latter the producer walked past ...

A&E: What is your best memory of being on the set?

TM: For me, the best thing about being on set was being accepted by the cast and crew as "one of them." On some sets, people think you're a journalist -- they're known as reptiles here in the UK -- digging for dirt. The Hornblower lot were great to me and, of course, once you're part of the team you get all the dirt anyway! (Not that I'm going to spread it around ...)

A&E: How did you research and write the book?

TM: I did quite a lot of research as I wanted the book to incorporate a fair amount of historical detail. There are literally thousands of publications about the era of Nelson's navy so I dipped into a few of them. I also gleaned a great deal from John Mollo, the costume designer. In the course of his preparation for Hornblower, he unearthed a wealth of period detail.

A&E: Do you have any stories from the set that didn't make it into the book?

TM: I think I'd be shot if I shared some of the stories that didn't make it into the book!

A&E: Did you witness any bloopers when you were on the HH set?

TM: The only real blooper I saw was when the special effects department, simulating canon-fire, got over-excited and blew Robert Lindsay's hat off his head and to the other side of the ship. It would have been a total disaster if it had blown overboard. He only had one hat and heaven knows how they would have been able to continue if it had sunk to a watery grave in the middle of the Black Sea.

A&E: Did you enjoy watching the series? What was your favorite character?

TM: Yes, I enjoyed the series very much, but seeing parts of it being made actually detracts from the drama of the finished item. When I watched it on TV I found myself identifying with the locations and behind-the-scenes stuff rather than the narrative. I think my favourite character was the Marquis de Moncoutant (played by Antony Sher). He was just so over the top. His episode -- Frogs & Lobsters -- was also my favorite. It had everything -- drama, battles, romance, and intrigue. I'm also personally interested in the French Revolution.

A&E: What is Ioan Gruffudd like in person?

TM: Ioan Gruffudd is terrific -- totally unspoiled and natural. I think he'll remain that way, however successful he becomes. He's great fun and also quite serious which is, I think, a good balance.

A&E: What was Ioan's reputation in the UK before Hornblower?

TM: Ioan wasn't at all well known in the UK before Hornblower. He'd had a small part in the film Wilde and also appeared in Titanic as the Petty Officer who came back in a lifeboat to rescue Kate Winslet. He agreed with me that if Kate hadn't been so selfish and had let Leonardo DiCaprio share her plank of wood, he'd still be alive now...

A&E: Is Robert Lindsay well known in the UK?

TM: Robert Lindsay is very well known in both theatre and TV in the UK. By coincidence, he's in the series I'm working on now, playing Fagin in Oliver Twist.

A&E: Why do you think Horatio Hornblower was such a hit? Do you think it was a bigger hit in the U.S. than in the UK?

TM: I think HH was a hit partly because of Forester's popularity and partly because it was so well made. It's extraordinarily difficult to film at sea and they succeeded admirably. Yes, it was more of a hit in the U.S. than in the UK. That was mainly because of the incredibly stupid scheduling in this country. There were about six weeks between each transmission so it didn't gather sufficient momentum. A definite "could try harder" for the schedulers.

A&E: What other books have you written? Do you have any upcoming projects you can tell us about?

TM: I've written about twenty books, most of them tie-ins or novelisations of British drama series. One that might interest you is the book I've just finished: Behind the Scenes at Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. That might not mean anything to Americans yet, but it's a phenomenally popular UK quiz show and the format has recently been sold to the U.S. If it's as successful on your side of the pond, you'll soon know about it. In the UK, it had ratings of nearly twenty million (a third of the population). You'd have to kill the Queen Mother to beat that! Another one you may be familiar with is Due South. I wrote four novelisations to accompany that. I loved the quirkiness of that series -- and the take on relations between the U.S. and Canada.

I'm currently working on a terrific project based in Prague. ITV is filming a new adaptation of Oliver Twist and I'm writing the "Making of" book. If you've never been to Prague, then get on a plane right now -- it's extraordinarily beautiful -- although the food's a bit grim. Lots of dumplings and grated carrots. At the moment the production is based in studios on the outskirts of the city (not beautiful), but the next few weeks are location-based: in an old monastery and a medieval village on the Austrian.

A&E: How is UK television different from TV in the U.S.?

TM: On a technical level, TV drama is different in both countries in the way it's actually filmed. In the UK, they normally only use one camera, which necessitates several (sometimes endless) takes of each scene in order to film it from different points of view. They normally film drama multi-camera in the U.S.

Otherwise, I think we make better drama and you make better sitcoms. That's obviously a huge generalisation as we only see the best of your stuff and vice-versa, but the most popular sitcoms in the UK are Friends and Frasier. Previous U.S. hits were Cheers, Ellen, Roseanne (in the early days) and Cybill.

A&E: What do you like most about your job and what do you like the least?

TM: What I like most about this job is doing the research and the interviewing. Writing can be incredibly isolating so it's usually a joy to go on location (especially if that location is hot, beautiful, and abroad) and be surrounded by people. The downside is coming back home, sitting at my computer, disseminating all my notes, and starting to write. That's when I develop a pressing desire to clean the shower or do other vital things like wash the dishes.