I’ve spent the last 16 years working as a documentary director and producer for Channel 4, ITV and Discovery in the UK and Fox in Italy. My work has taken me around the world, looking at subjects as varied as environmental sustainability, schools admissions, Mahatma Gandhi  and  9/11.

Since my teens, I’ve been an avid reader of crime novels and always gravitate to crime drama on TV and film. Recent highlights include The Irishman, The Departed (anything by Scorsese basically), The Bridge, True Detective, Billions and the BBC’s Line of Duty.

Among my favourite writers are RJ Ellory,  Mario Vargas Llosa, William Boyd, Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, Dennis Lehane, John le Carre, James Ellroy and Patricia Highsmith. I love James Lee Burke but came to the party late and am still working my way through the Robicheaux books. The two books I most want to read in 2020 are November Road by Lou Berney and Bluebird Bluerbird by Atticka Locke.

I was inspired to write ‘The Few’ after my work took me to Rome in 2008. I’m interested in the jarring ambiguities of Italian society and find the eternal city to be one of the strangest places to live.

Since having children, I’m doing much more writing than documentary making. I enjoy the freedom of creating my own characters and mapping their lives. It feels good to be able to invent dialogue after so many years working with the thoughts of others.

I’m currently working on a new (non Scamarcio) thriller set in Washington and Antarctica.