In October 2012 I met a producer at ITV Studios who had expressed interest in making a drama series inspired by my book about the wartime WI, Jambusters. We had been introduced by the script-writer, Simon Block, who was a tutor on an Arvon writing course that I had attended six weeks earlier. Once the book was optioned by ITVS and Simon Block was invited to be the creator and script writer of the series, the three of us sat down in Oxford and discussed how a drama might evolve. From my point of view this was the most thrilling and creative process I have been in since exhibition organising in the 1980s. By the end of five hours we had some ideas which Simon took away to create the setting for this wonderful drama. This took several months, followed by a reasonably long period of working on the first draft of episode one before it was ready to go to ITV commissioners. My role has been that of historical consultant and I attended a three day story-lining meeting in April at which I provided cake and historical facts, while the script writers and executive producer came up with the stories and the drama.
- Home Fires Extinguished.
- Julie’s May 2015 Newsletter – in which Julie describes how Home Fires came about.
- ITV – Home Fires Episode 1
- Daily Mail: The Jambusters! The WI were the backbone of the Home Front in WW2, now a powerful new drama follows the war’s impact on the women of one village circle – Julie discusses some of the characters in Home Fires and the inspiration behind their stories.
- Home Fires on IMDB.
- Home Fires Cheshire Filming Locations – visitcheshire.com
- PBS Adds Home Fires to its 2015 Masterpiece Line-up
Jambusters – The remarkable story which has inspired the ITV drama Home Fires
