In 1971, Daphne du Maurier published Don’t Look Now and it was to become a landmark in the development of the psychological thriller. Du Maurier was an extraordinarily prolific writer producing a string of bestselling novels such as Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, but it’s in her short stories that we find her darkest and most disturbing work.

In Don’t Look Now, a couple visit Venice trying to come to terms with the grief of losing their daughter. A blind psychic tells them she can see their daughter and she is trying to warn them of danger. Their fragility and the psychic’s premonitions become entangled with real life events on the Venetian backstreets.

Du Maurier’s writing was ground-breaking not only in her brilliant handling of suspense and plot, but because her real interest lay in the internal journey of the characters and what was going on under the surface. John Yorke looks at why Don’t Look Now is such a brilliant example of this. Don’t Look Now also gained a huge international following because it was adapted for cinema by the film director Nicholas Roeg.

This is the first of two Opening Lines that explore the short stories of Daphne du Maurier.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for thirty years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatized in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series.

From EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book ‘Into the Woods’.

As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters - his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone.

Contributors:
Sarah Dunant – best selling author of thriller and historical novels, and broadcaster
Peter Bradshaw – film critic

Credits:
Don’t Look Now and other stories by Daphne du Maurier, Penguin Classics 2006.
Archive clip from 2001 BBC Radio dramatisation with Michael Feast playing the part of John.
Venice sound bed from BBC Radio 3’s Slow Radio: Venice Between the Bells.

Readings: Julian Wilkinson
Researcher: Nina Semple
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
Producer: Julian Wilkinson
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
Sound: Sean Kerwin

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4