In 1947, The New York Times chose a novel set in Victorian Glasgow as its book of the month. The Wax Fruit trilogy, by Guy McCrone is a sweeping, literary tour de force that tells the rambunctious, multi-generational saga of a struggling Ayrshire farming family who settle in Glasgow and establish themselves in a city pulsing with grimy opportunity. 

Now, eight decades after they first enchanted America’s literary establishment, the three books are being brought to life in one of the most ambitious screen productions ever attempted in Scotland.

Curiously, Guy McCrone’s masterpiece has been half-forgotten in Scotland’s literary canon. A BBC Radio Four adaptation of the first book in the trilogy, Antimacassar City, was produced in 2012. In 1975, a single episode was screened by BBC1 Scotland, who then opted not to fund the remainder.

A cast featuring Scotland’s most gifted actors, producers and designers have been working quietly together over the last four years to make it happen. It includes Bill Paterson, Juliet Cadzow, Martin Compston, Shirley Henderson, Elaine C Smith and Ashley Jensen.

The project has come together under the guidance of the respected Glasgow producer, Sarah Purser and her company, Little White Rose Films. After reading Scottish Literature at Strathclyde University, Ms Purser worked in film and television throughout Europe and has co-produced with Scotland’s theatre phenomenon, A Play, A Pie and a Pint.  

Elaine c Smith in Wax FruitsElaine C Smith in Wax Fruit (Image: Mark Mainz)

Wax Fruit will span 50 episodes over five series and is about to hit the inboxes of the UK’s major network series commissioners. One Scottish television insider told me: “It’s a no-brainer that this will get made. The Scottish television drama community is buzzing about it. It will be a game-changer for Glasgow and Scotland.”

Creative Scotland have already funded the first episode and Ms Purser, who was captivated by Wax Fruit when it was gifted to her as a young adult, said: “I want to get this made because it will become something great for the city. I can’t think of a better way to help Glasgow than getting it to feature in all its glory in an international flagship show.

“When I read the book I thought this would make a great television drama series. I put it in a drawer for a while and then, when I was in a position to do so, I took out the option on it.

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“I then called my dad and asked him why he hadn’t ever told me about Wax Fruit. He said he had told me “but you obviously weren’t listening”. Then he told me that Guy McCrone was his Godfather. He was also one a co-founder of The Citizens. So, I feel I have a duty to do it for him the family and to it properly so that it does our city proud.”

The author and literary critic, Alan Taylor, is excited at the prospect of McCrone’s books and the world he created being turned into flesh and blood. “This was a period in the history of Glasgow and indeed the UK that’s been crying out to be realised properly as television drama. Guy McCrone’s trilogy portrays a world far removed from the hard and dark one so predictably beloved of dramatists.

“They’re set against the backdrop of Glasgow as one of the most vibrant and successful cities in the world where there were fortunes to be made and grand houses to be built. But this is no Merchant Ivory, tiaras and ball-gowns production. There’s a lot of smoke and grime and heavy industry. It will be a welcome antidote to the usual BBC drama fare of Tudor and Dickensian England.”

Ashley Jensen will have a starring role in Wax FruitsAshley Jensen will have a starring role in Wax Fruit (Image: Mark Mainz)

Ms Purser remembers falling in love with the theatre when she was a young teenager. Her mum took in actors from the nascent Citizens Theatre as lodgers at their home on Hamilton Crescent.

“This project has chimed with everyone I’ve told about it, but it was always important that we got all the right people involved before beginning to approach the series commissioners.

“Everyone we’ve spoken with has a great passion for this city and especially at the moment when there’s so much bad publicity around some of the old buildings. I’ve been in touch with stonemasons, stained glass artists and Keppie, the city’s oldest and most celebrated architects. They’ve all said the same thing: count me in, this is music to our ears. What can we do?”

The Director of Photography is another Glasgow boy, the Oscar-nominated and Bafta-laden Michael Coulter. The film composer is the singer-songwriter Tommy Reilly. “We’re now ready to go,” says Sarah Purser, “we have the script, the talent and the episodic narrative. The aim was always to take it to the studios in such an advanced form and with so many gifted people involved that they’ll find it difficult to say no.”

The real star of the show, of course will be Glasgow itself. A stunning seven-minute teaser reveals a celebration and grand vision of the city that encapsulates its vibrant history and those stalwarts of industry who helped fashion it and its stunning architectural heritage.

Sarah PurserSarah Purser (Image: Gerardo Jaconelli)

“I want to bring my beloved home city to a global audience who have never had the joy of experiencing Glasgow before,” said Ms Purser.

The teaser was filmed at Holmwood House in full period costume, which Ms Purser describes as a fusion of Vivienne Westwood and The Glasgow Boys. It immediately suggests an Urban Outlander, but with the hard graft, ingenuity, wit and ambition associated with Glasgow. It’s a very human tale of hard work, soaring ambition, wild romance and optimism. It has a heart of gold.

As we watched Bill Paterson and Juliet Cadzow and Martin Compston weaving their magic it became clear that this will be massive for the economy of Glasgow and Scotland and provide an unprecedented boost for all those trades and crafts that flow from Scotland’s film and television sector. 

‘I couldn’t have come this far if everyone hadn’t immediately been enthusiastic about it,’ said Sarah Purser. ‘Everyone asks me when it’s happening. Now, all I have to do is deliver it for the small army of people who are behind it and who believe in it.”