The Chemist launch

Amit and I have been working on The Chemist since 2021, we didn’t meet until 2022 as he lived in Bradford and as is the way of things we did everything on zoom.  He wrote the script first and we sold it to channel 4 who developed it with us through to a final ‘no’.  It was immediately picked up by another Broadcaster and today we delivered a rewritten pilot episode and the series outline.  In the meantime Amit wrote the novel and as he believes in synergy wanted to get this in on the day that the book came out.  It is set in Leeds and this advertising board was between the railway station and the hotel.  

The actual launch was taking place in the Midland Hotel in Bradford, he’s big in Bradford, but first I went over to their house for tea and a spectacular Chemist cake with his family and editor.  The launch was part of the Bradford Literary festival and the event was packed with piles of books sold. Amit was brilliant in how he spoke and answer questions, remember to be entertaining as well as informative. The book is about a murderous pharmacist and Amit ran a pharmacy for years so he had plenty of stories.  

Afterwards we went to a bar for a drink with some of the fans waiting for books to be signed and then out to a very big Indian restaurant on several floors.  It was very Bradford, fantastic food.  Amit’s wife prefers chips to rice but had her karahi ‘Asian style’ which is code for spicy.    Her two sons tucked into chicken nuggets and chips!  I ate delicious jalfrezi absolutely superb with naans and yoghurt 

Uber back to the hotel in the rain.