| Based On: | Mayflies by Andrew O'Hagan (2020 novel) |
| Screenplay: | Andrea Gibb |
| Director: | Peter Mackie Burns |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 2 |
| Cinematography: | Alasdair Boyce |
| Network: | BBC One |
Mayflies is a two-part British television drama series starring Martin Compston and Tony Curran, adapted by Andrea Gibb from Andrew O'Hagan's 2020 novel of the same name, and directed by Peter Mackie Burns.
Tully and Jimmy have been friends since 1986 after meeting in Scotland. Thirty years later, Jimmy received a heartbreaking phone call from Tully that he has terminal cancer.[1]
The BBC announced the project in August 2022. Set and filmed in Scotland, Synchronicity Films were announced to be producing for the BBC.[2] Compston described the process of adapting an acclaimed novel “terrifying” while Curran said they had tried to “honour” the book.[3]
The first episode of Mayflies aired in the UK on BBC One on Wednesday, December 28 at 9pm, the second episode the following day at the same time.[4]
The Financial Times reviewed a “thoughtful exploration of how death liberates the soon-to-be deceased, and devastates those left behind” with an “array of stirring performances”.[5] The Guardian described it as “beautifully told” whilst “Curran is deeply moving as a man who refuses to let death have the last laugh, with Ashley Jensen as his firecracker wife Anna.”[6]