Guy Hibbert interview

On the Writers' Guild website I've put up the interview with screenwriter Guy Hibbert that appears in the most recent issue of the Guild's magazine, UK Writer.

He talks mostly about the extraordinary story behind his new film, Five Minutes Of Heaven, that will be shown on BBC Two next month and released theatrically outside the UK.

After Omagh, I was asked by BBC Northern Ireland to write something about the legacy of violence. I wasn't sure how to approach it but then came across a BBC documentary about the Troubles in which the perpetrators of crime were to meet the families of their victims. Through this I heard about Joe and Alistair. In 1975 Joe Griffin was 11 when Alistair Little, who was then himself just 17, drove up to Joe's parents' house and shot Joe's brother three times in the head. Joe witnessed the killing. Thirty years later both men were asked to appear in this documentary; Joe refused saying that "if I am ever in a room with that man I will kill him". I immediately knew this was my story and so set about meeting both men.

Update (25.03.2009): Five Minutes Of Heaven will be shown on BBC Two on Saturday 4 April