One can only wonder how novelist Anthony Horowitz manages to harness his glorious imagination time and again. As one of the busiest and most prolific contemporary writers in the UK, the master of mystery and suspense sure enjoys the thrill of his mind racing through the new and uncharted waters of a genre he understands so well.
A natural polymath, Horowitz is regarded as unique for working across several media, juggling writing books, TV series, films, plays and journalism with equal ease. Horowitz has written over 40 books including the bestselling teen spy series Alex Rider, which is estimated to have sold 19 million copies worldwide, and other popular young adult reader favourites such as The Diamond Brothers series, and The Power of Five series (aka The Gatekeepers).
Having created and written some of the UK’s most beloved and successful television series’ such as the award-winning drama series Foyle’s War and producing the first seven episodes of Midsomer Murders, the English writer-screenwriter is now winning viewers with his latest crime drama, the bold and gripping seven-part investigative drama New Blood, which has just finished its first season on BBC One in the UK.
Here, in Qatar, the show will premiere exclusively on OSN Play from September 15, two months ahead of its linear broadcast in the region. Training its focus on a unique side of modern London through the eyes of two outsiders, Stefan and Rash, New Blood follows the duo that as junior investigators for the Serious Fraud Office and the police is brought together by two seemingly unrelated cases.
Stefan and Rash are opposites in almost every way. What they do share are the same frustrations with life — underpaid, unappreciated and undermined. Lumbered with huge university loans, they cannot afford to buy a house and have little or no job security. New Blood sees them come up against the rich and powerful — corporations, individuals and the new breed of criminals who hide behind legitimate facades and are guarded by lawyers. As their friendship is cemented across the series, they come to understand that by quietly pooling resources and combining their different skills they make a formidable crime-solving force.
Horowitz, who is known to write “in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours a day”, is also an acclaimed writer for adults. That explains him being commissioned by the Conan Doyle Estate to write two new Sherlock Holmes novels and more recently by the Ian Fleming Estate to write the new James Bond novel, Trigger Mortis, which was released last September. Community caught up with Horowitz for a chat.
 
You started writing at the age of eight. As a writer, today, how important do you think it was for you to have started at that age?
I’m not sure that starting so young was important. In fact, being pigeon-holed as a writer too young can be unhelpful. You need to have a life. You need to have adventures. You need experiences to write about. But I loved writing from a very early age, it’s true. It wasn’t a choice. It was just the way I was.
 
As one of the most sought-after contemporary writers in the UK, how challenging can reinventing the mystery and suspense wheel get?
Reinvention is one of the most important things in the life of the long-distance writer and there’s no limit on how much genres can change. Change is the life-blood of writing. I have always lived in fear of turning out the same book, the same TV series year after year. I love the challenge of trying something new.
 
You have often been praised for keeping your spy-kid series, such as Alex Rider, original and fresh. Without revealing the secret, could you hint at what is your wellspring of ideas for penning heaps of popular fiction?
There is no secret. I just have ideas… lots of them. People I meet, places I go, things I see… they all suggest stories to me. And if an idea refuses to go away, I write it.
 
Your latest crime drama New Blood on BBC One has drawn some rave reviews. Tell us about what went into devising this series.
New Blood began with a question. How can I do something original and new in crime drama? Part of me was reacting against all the very serious, dark and quite violent stories that we’ve inherited from Scandi-noir TV. I remembered there was a time when TV was lighter, more enjoyable. I was also very keen to write about the so-called “Y” generation, young people in London struggling with no money, nowhere to live, very little job security. I think New Blood is actually quite closely related to Alex Rider. If Alex was in London, aged 26, he might be good friends with Rash and Stefan.
 
Is keeping up with audience expectations when writing TV series, like New Blood or previously Foyle’s War, more complicated than it is for you when writing books?
I don’t know what audience expectations are! I write what I believe, the stories I want to tell, and hope the audience will come along for the ride.
 
One of the reasons why you started writing books for young people, you say, was “to make up for the shortcomings of my childhood”. Has channelising your teenage angst into writing helped you deal with the troubles of those years?
My childhood was odd and unsatisfactory. I shouldn’t complain as I came from a wealthy and loving background — but it’s certainly true that I began to write as a reaction to my school/family/life. But no… my books and TV were never designed to “help” me. They are not psychoanalysis! I only write because I love writing and I hope my stories will entertain. I’m still the product of the child that I once was.
 
If you could give three crucial pieces of advice to young, budding writers, what would they be?
The first would be — Believe in yourself. Second; enjoy your writing. If you’re not enjoying it, something may have gone wrong. And third; never give up. Success is always around the next corner.