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JookBoxFury by Kevern Stafford - Novel (Matador, 2009)

  I first discovered JookBoxFury when I saw a promotional display for it in Mrs Lofthouse’s Book Emporium (see the Other Websites page for details on this shop) in 2009. It was rare to see multiple copies of any book in this wonderfully shabby shop, let alone new and shiny copies. I wasn’t really in the market for paying the full RRP for a book at that particular time, but when I saw it in Scarborough Library, perhaps a year later, I immediately picked it up and took it to the issue counter. The photo used on the front cover was clearly taken inside Scarborough’s Harbour Bar and with the woman in the photo holding vinyl singles and sipping a bright green drink, I was intrigued, enthused and raring to read. I remember thinking it was brilliant; a funny concept with funny characters. With some of it being set in Scarborough and many mentions of songs and bands that I like, it is a book I have thought about occasionally ever since finishing it. Last year I decided I wanted to read it aga
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All at Sea - Series One - TV Comedy (CBBC, 2013)

I launched this blog back in April with an article about the BBC comedy Scarborough . One of the main characters in that series was played by Steve Edge who also plays one of the main characters in All at Sea , another comedy set in Scarborough. They were both made by the BBC, with Scarborough airing less than four years after the final episode of All at Sea , and Steve Edge was in both. The main difference between the two shows is that one is aimed at adults and the other is aimed at kids.  I discovered All at Sea by chance in 2013. I think I had seen it in the TV listings and managed to watch a few episodes. This was the first time in years that I had seen a comedy set in Scarborough on TV, the previous instances being an episode of an ITV sitcom that I will write about next year (it will be worth the wait, I hope) and the film Little Voice which I wrote about recently. I wasn't in the habit of watching kids TV in 2013, but I made an exception for something set in Scarborough.
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A Wake of Crows by Kate Evans - Novel (Constable, 2021)

This novel is the first of a crime series set in Scarborough. The main character is DC Donna Morris, a woman with a lot on her plate. Not only is Donna starting a new job in a new town, she is living away from her husband and seems conflicted about whether this is a good thing or bad. She is older than most of her colleagues and is experiencing the menopause. Her daughter is in prison (in the fictional HMP North Yorkshire) and this is why Donna has chosen to move to Scarborough, to undertake part of her probationary period as Detective Constable. There would be enough to explore here without a complex murder mystery to solve, but we get one of those too; a former GCHQ employee is found dead in the woods and there are several avenues of enquiry to explore, each very different and involving characters from a wide range of backgrounds, but all from Scarborough! Having a female main character immediately sets this crime novel apart from so many others, but the writing style differentiates
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Little Voice - Film (Miramax, 1998)

  A critical and commercial success, Little Voice is perhaps the most well-known film to have been shot on location in Scarborough. Whilst the town's name is not used by the characters, and does not appear on any signage, there is significant use of the South Bay seafront and harbour area as well as a particular residential street, Barwick Terrace (off Gladstone Road). The closest the film comes to verbally acknowledging its setting is when showbiz agent, Ray Say (played by Michael Caine) mentions that he will be picking up a London-based talent scout from The Grand. Released in December 1998, with a 15 certificate, I was too young to go and see it at the time. I was certainly aware of its release though; I had seen the posters and I remember it being the talk of the town. I would have to wait for it to be broadcast on terrestrial television, which might have been around four or five years later. I can't remember now what I thought of it at the time, I imagine I was just impre
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Scarborough - TV Comedy (BBC, 2019) written by Derren Litten

  I used to think that a comedy series being filmed in Scarborough was very unlikely. I didn't think anyone would even suggest it. That's why, in 2012, I wrote my own sitcom script. It had the title Hawaiianesque and was set in a surf shop in Scarborough - I was picturing Cool Classics Surf Shop on Museum Terrace as I wrote it. In 2017, I wrote another script; Coasters was also set in Scarborough. The main characters worked in a gift shop and there were lots of outdoor scenes and some crime-based drama. Other than a few nice comments on the second script from an independent production company, nothing happened with those scripts.  It would take a writer with a lot of experience to get a prime time Scarborough sitcom on our screens. Derren Litten had huge success with the ITV comedy, Benidorm . It ran for ten series and attracted millions of viewers - according to the Wikipedia entry , series 4 and 5 attracted an average of over 7 million across all episodes. It made sense for
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