The slow birth of Lilies

Lilies, which begins on BBC One on Friday, spent almost a decade in development - as the series creator Heidi Thomas tells Paul Hoggart in The Times.

"The series is really a mosaic of oral history," says Thomas, and proceeds to itemise the origin of the colourful details with which the script is stuffed. Dadda’s hostility to his daughters’ priest, for instance: "My grandmother was Catholic and my grandfather was Protestant. When the priest called round every Friday, he would make him stand on newspaper just to show he didn’t approve of him being in the house. One of his daughters married a Catholic and he was just referred to as ‘the Fenian’. It was only when a cousin took up genealogy that we found out what the poor man’s name was."

Catherine Tyldesley, Daniel Rigby, Brian McCardie, Leanne Rowe and Kerrie Hayes in Lilies, created by Heidi Thomas, written by Heidi Thomas, Kate Gartside and Jonathan Harvey. (Photo: Matt Squire for BBC/World Productions)