Film-writer: ‘BBC got McMafia idea from me’
Starring James norton as the inscrutable alex godman, son of an exiled russian crime boss, BBC1 series McMafia traverses the global sex trade and international money-laundering.
But, as the penultimate episode airs tomorrow, i can disclose that a much more compelling drama is about to explode at the High Court.
the development, alleging breach both of copyright and confidentiality by the BBC and others, is the result of a legal complaint by writer Wilf Varvill launched in October.
Varvill, 35, says he wrote a short film, produced in 2007, which he used as the basis for a proposed series, Londongrad, whose central character was alex, the Cambridge-educated son of an exiled russian ‘robber baron’.
‘it was shared on a confidential basis in 2009, 2012 and 2013 with agent nick Marston, and his client Hossein amini, together with the BBC, in 2011, 2012 and 2014,’ says Varvill.
‘in 2014, the project died because another series covering “similar territory” called McMafia was commissioned.’ Varvill says he became concerned as ‘the same producers who took an active interest in Londongrad turned out to be producers of McMafia’. the BBC, Marston and amini all declined to comment on these allegations.
Marston, an eminent figure at leading agency Curtis Brown, part-owned by BBC Worldwide, is one of the executive producers of McMafia, as is amini, who also co-wrote the script. amini has spoken about the challenges of his writing role, given that Misha glenny’s 2008 book McMafia, from which the series starring norton (right) takes its name, is non-fiction.
‘alex doesn’t exist in the book. Literally none of the characters are real,’ amini acknowledged, adding that his solution ‘for the domestic side of the story’ was ‘to cannibalise from my own family. i first moved to this country in 1979 after the iranian revolution. My family had been exiled and i was sent to an English private school while my parents adjusted to their new lives as refugees. this became the basis for the godman family in McMafia.’ Varvill, who has russian family and met oligarchs’ sons as a teenager, begs to differ. ‘the BBC’s solicitors deny breach of confidence and copyright infringement. they say McMafia is based on glenny’s book, even though the story of alex does not figure in it. the BBC knew it had already seen a project with an identical premise, but it’s a closed shop. that’s why i’m going to the High Court.’ the BBC says: ‘McMafia is an original series created by Hossein amini and James Watkins and inspired by Misha glenny’s 2008 book of the same name.’