The longer you wait for a TV version of a book, the better it will be, says this crime writer

Do you have a favourite literary detective or character you’d love to see come to life on TV? Or are you an author desperate to see your work adapted by a broadcaster? Well, I believe it’s in the best interests of all concerned not to rush these things, and I’ll explain why.

For a long time I despaired of my fictional LA detective Harry Bosch ever making it to the screen. My first Bosch book came out in 1992, and within a couple of years the rights had been bought by a production company with a view to turning it into a movie. But things didn’t go to plan and the company shelved the idea. Two or three further TV and film scripts also bit the dust. Damn, it was frustrating! I’d all but given up hope of Harry making it onto TV when in 2012 Amazon called me saying it wanted to turn Bosch into a small-screen drama; it was a dream come true.

I’m sure some of Britain’s top crime writers felt the same way when TV adaptations of their books finally got the green light. For instance, Peter Robinson waited over 20 years to see his Yorkshire sleuth DCI Banks move from page to screen (a new series starts on Wednesday on ITV). Meanwhile, Ann Cleeves had a 12-year wait for her Northumberland-based detective Vera Stanhope to make a similar transition, also on ITV.

The TV world changed enormously in the intervening years, and oddly that’s worked to the advantage of all three of us and for fans of our series. Until relatively recently, crime dramas were packaged in single hour-long episodes. The crime had to be solved within the hour because TV bosses believed audiences didn’t have the patience or attention span to wait a week for a further instalment. I always believed this was frustrating for the writers and viewers – it meant there wasn’t the time to explain anything properly and characters weren’t fleshed out enough.

Thankfully, successes including Broadchurch and The Missing proved that if a crime drama is well crafted, TV viewers will stick with it, relishing all the twists of the investigation. Broadcasters are now happy to set aside hours in the schedules, or even let a single crime story run for months. There were other benefits for Peter, Ann and myself. We’ve all written more books featuring our detectives in the intervening years so the characters have a bigger fanbase and there’s more material for TV producers to adapt.

So, to crime fans enduring a long wait to see their favourite fictional cop hit the small screen, remember it might just be for the best! Bosch Season 2 is available for unlimited streaming or to download from Amazon Prime Video now. See amazon.co.uk/piv.