Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood apologised to House of Games star Richard Osman after he had an awkward realisation about their novels.
Talking on the Binge Podcast with Alex Jones and Harry Judd, Robert, 53, recalled the moment he approached Richard at a party to say he was sorry for their novels being incredibly similar.
© InstagramRobert is the author of The Marlow Murder Club, a series that follows three women investigating crimes in Marlow. His book was published in 2021, three months after Richard released his novel, The Thursday Murder Club.
In both books, the lead character is an elderly woman who becomes an amateur sleuth.
On the podcast, Robert said: “I met him eventually at a party. I don’t usually go to those sorts of parties and bless him, he was a plus one at the party so it wasn’t like a fancy party, and you do know when Richard Osman is in the room.
“So I got introduced to him and I go, ‘I’m really sorry but I appeared to have copied your book, three months after your book’. I explained I was an actual writer and I think he was concerned that my publisher had just hired a hack to quickly churn out a book.
“But I said, ‘No, I’ve been working on this for years and years and it’s going to be part of a series, and maybe we’ll do it as a television show’, and he said ‘That’s fine.”
Host Alex remarked that the books are incredibly similar. Robert added: “It’s not just the titles. His Elizabeth was a 78-year-old woman, Judith is a 78-year-old woman, it’s ridiculously similar.
© UKTV“Elizabeth gathers together a coterie of friends to solve light-hearted murders in the home counties and my Judith gathers together a coterie of friends who solve light-hearted murders in the home counties. But there are lots of differences between the two books.”
The mix-up is believed by the filmmaker to be due to both writers being inspired by The Tuesday Club Murders, the US title for Agatha Christie’s first Jane Marple book, Thirteen Problems.
© InstagramSince being released, The Marlow Murder Club has been adapted into a TV series by UandDrama in 2024. The second series aired earlier this year.
Meanwhile, The Thursday Murder Club is set to be turned into a film later this year. Directed by Christopher Columbus, starring A-list actors Helen Mirren, Peirce Brosnan, David Tennant and Ben Kingsley.
