Responsible Child is a powerful new factual drama on BBC Two in which a young boy on the cusp of adolescence finds himself standing trial for murder. We spoke to the drama's screenwriter, Sean Buckley, about the challenges and responsibilities involved in telling this story and his writing career.
Sean, when did you start to write?
I think I was always quite creative as a kid, painting and making things and always loved reading, particularly the big fantasy sagas, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia for example. I loved the breadth of storytelling. I’ve always loved cinema and I think I discovered David Lynch's Blue Velvet far too young, and remember being thrown by the creation of this ‘other world’. I’ve always been struck by storytelling that has quite a hermetic, unique and specific feel and its details.
I think I was writing before I consciously knew that was what I was doing. I remember reading Of Mice and Men, which had a real impact on me both as a story within its specific context of American history, but also emotionally. It was that combination of factual and fictional which appealed to me. One of the modules I studied at GCSE was Creative Writing, which included poems and because I liked spoken word and rap and its tapestry of language, I wrote some poems. My English teacher was really encouraging to me which was key because there wasn’t a huge amount of creative arts going on at my school.
When did you start to take your writing seriously?
I never entertained writing as something I could do as a living. I suppose my background meant that it wasn’t an obvious path, although saying that my dad was from rural Ireland and is a great storyteller!
It was while I was studying Drama that someone suggested sending something I’d written in to the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. A brilliant man there sent a script I’d written as part of their Writers' Festival to the BBC Writersroom and that led to me getting the opportunity to write for radio. I gained a place on a Radio Drama Writer’s Course – which led to a short piece and then to a full length drama for new writing slot on Radio 3, The Wire, which was my first broadcast commission. I also had a short spell as a Writer in Residence with BBC Radio Drama.
Writing for radio made me understand a filmic way of writing – the ability to go anywhere. I applied to a scheme for writers new to TV called Coming Up and had my first half hour TV commission through that for Channel 4. I then wrote for Skins as part of the writers’ room under Bryan Elsley. I wish there more writers’ room opportunities in the UK like Skins – I feel that it was very fortuitous for me to be there at the right time. I know that the BBC Studios Writers’ Academy is a great way into broadcast work too. I really credit BBC Writersroom as a wonderful opportunity at a very, very early stage in giving me a place to work, to write and to be in that creative environment.
At what point did you get an agent?
I was lucky to get an agent fairly early on. When I’d written my first ‘proper play’ someone at the theatre thought it would connect to an agent they knew. That led to a meeting and I was really lucky that first meeting led to me getting an agent. I think that was really key, because when the chips are down your agent is like your supporter. With writing you can be on your own quite a lot, so you need someone to speak to who can buoy you up.
What was the origin of Responsible Child, your new drama for BBC Two?
Responsible Child came out of an idea that the brilliant documentary maker Nick Holt had. He had attended a trial which compelled him to want to tell the story of a young boy, aged 12, who was being tried for murder. He strongly felt that it was a story that was best told through the medium of drama – which could reach a place that was maybe impossible for documentary. He had established a relationship with the production company Kudos who reached out to me when Nick was looking for a writer to collaborate with on the project. I met Nick and the Executive Producers Karen Wilson and Mark Raphael and I felt that we really connected in the story and its ambition. As a writer it can feel like a marathon to getting something made, but in this case I felt a passionate desire to be involved with this story.
How much of the story is true and how much is fictionalised?
The story is based on a true story, but due to its nature and the way in which it’s told – entirely through the point of view of a 12 year old boy and his life from the moment of him turning up at the police station through custody to pre-trial, actual trial and sentencing – it’s parallel to the real story. I wanted to take the audience as close as possible to that experience through the boy’s eyes and his understanding of going through what is essentially an adult penal system.
Drama can do this wonderfully. It’s that fundamental question of ‘who is this person and why have they done this thing’? You have a very specific world, which in this case I approached almost like I would approach Sci-Fi, because to the child themselves they are in a very strange and alien environment, and for the audience to appreciate how that feels, what the child understands, what he doesn’t understand and the kindness that comes out of left field from the people involved in different aspects of that system.
What are you hoping the audience will take away from Responsible Child?
I want it to speak to an audience who might have engaged with this story at a certain level through news or perhaps the sort of sensational coverage that comes with it, but instead to appreciate it at a very emotional and experiential level. It would be great if it plants the question in the head of someone who watches as to whether this is the best way to charge children with serious crime, given what we know now about the neurology of a child’s brain and how it develops.
The ambition with the story was always to tell a very pure story of the boy’s life and to ensure that the human story was never overshadowed by the issues involved. I hope that is what the audience will feel, that it troubles the head and churns the heart.
What research did you do and who did you speak to?
To research Responsible Child I was given notes from the real trial on which it is based and spoke to and met with the legal team, including the central barrister, shadowing her in court on a separate trial. I spent time learning about the world. I also met with other members of the legal team. To build the journey and the steps that the child goes through it was fundamental that Nick and I met with eminent child psychologists and spoke with them about their experience of similar children who had been taken through and tried through the same system. We also met with other people involved in associated services – the Youth Offending team for example - to get a holistic picture of the whole world, to give the story the spine that it would need to take the audience through that system.
Do you have any advice you can share for other writers who want to follow in your footsteps?
I’ve been lucky to have been given some wonderful advice over the years, the best being ‘just keep going’. I think as I’ve been lucky enough to write for TV I’ve come to realise that the hardest thing can be to keep going and to keep your energy levels for a project which can take years to come to fruition. Things in TV take time and don’t get made overnight! You need to keep believing in your writing while staying open to other people’s thoughts.
How about dealing with script notes?
How it feels to deal with script notes depends on the people that you’re working with. You need to have built up a rapport of trust and know that they are coming from a good place. You need to stay open to a slight shift in perspective and take time to allow that settle – so don’t instantly judge notes but let them settle and see how it feels and only then look at your work afresh. You need to find like-minded souls in the business and it’s wonderful when you do, that’s when a piece of work can really take off and come alive.
Watch Responsible Child on BBC Two on Monday 16th December at 9pm or on BBC iPlayer