Kate Brooke talks writing Mr Selfridge and her upcoming Blenheim Palace Literary Festival talk

Proof of a seismic shift away from the world of academia is evident at this year’s Blenheim Literary Festival where, among the biographers, novelists, historians, poets and playwrights, is a new genre — screen-writing.

To demonstrate its intent, Blenheim is going out all guns blazing with two of the biggest and most respected names in the business — Julian Fellowes and Kate Brooke, the king and queen of Sunday-night TV drama, who have proved, with Downton Abbey and Mr Selfridge respectively, that the general public has an insatiable appetite for new writing in whatever format. That they are both happy to share their vision says as much about their desire to be taken seriously, as the literary world’s need to include them. “Mr Selfridge sells all over the world and we are very proud of what we have achieved over the past few years. We’re delighted to come to Blenheim — it’s an exciting time in television right now,” Oxford University graduate Kate Brooke points out.

“There is a real demand for good long-running drama and yet screen-writing isn’t always thought of as literate.”

Candid, relaxed and remarkably undemonstrative, Kate is dedicated and passionate, her results speaking for themselves. She is now one of the country’s most sought-after scriptwriters. “I do feel I’m waving the flag a bit because there aren’t many women doing this. It’s nice to show it’s not just the guys who can write drama and thrillers,” she says.

Kate’s path was inevitable in hindsight; reading English Literature at Christ Church, studying drama at the L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, acting in productions that saw her star at Oxford’s Pegasus and The Playhouse as it dawned on her that she was happier concocting the story than acting it out.

Adapting French texts for an English audience meant she was soon snatched up by the voracious world of TV and never looked back, crafting Mr Selfridge from day one. Working collaboratively, she is now immersed in filming series three’s next 10-part series (she is also the executive producer) which involves constant rewriting.

So what can we expect? “The next series has jumped five years and pitches Selfridges post war in 1919, addressing the issue of how a country comes back from a war when everyone has lost something or someone. How do you pick yourself up and carry on?” Kate asks. “So it is a slightly darker show inevitably and yet its still Harry Selfridge’s story, even though we are beginning to sow the seeds of his eventual destruction, heading towards his extreme fall from grace.”

Research then is paramount in Kate’s world: “That’s what I find so fascinating about this story - I love watching how things change through Harry’s eyes, the fashions, women's lib, and how he made shopping fun. It’s such a fascinating period of history and very visual with the post war euphoria of the clubs and dancing.”

Is it easy to get carried away with the visual aspects of the show then to the detriment of the facts? “Ultimately we are dealing with a true story seen through fictional characters, so it’s a hybrid show, and we have to find a delicate balance between not being too hidebound to the story or fast and loose with the facts. We have to make sure it delivers.”

Dialogue: Kate Brooke

Unable to write it all herself, Kate relies on her writers hub to craft her ideas into dialogue and develop the characters. “I give it a storyline and some sense of where the show is going, and yet the script is permanently evolving and very immediate, involving hundreds and hundreds of people, so it has to be very scheduled and rigorous because they are all being paid. You have to be incredibly disciplined because while they are filming the beginning, we are firming up the middle, so for me it’s a beast of a show which takes six months to film, (two weeks per episode).”

Having several other projects on the burner, Kate still managed to squeeze in the thriller Ice Cream Girls which screened on ITV in 2013 and a one off adaption of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel The Making Of A Lady, as well as having two daughters and a husband squirelled away in London.

“I don’t find it hard to manage my time,” she says. “Mr Selfridge takes up most of my year, but I still have a life, she laughs, “although I have started to dream in period language.”

Accompanying fellow graduate, author and friend Lucy Atkins to the Blenheim Literary Festival, the pair will be accompanied by Mr Selfridge stars Trystan Gravelle and Amy Morgan to discuss why they like playing their characters, while Kate discusses how the script develops, the collaborative nature between her and the actors and how to develop the storyline, deliver it and the process behind each series.

So how does she feel about sharing the screenwriters platform with Julian Fellowes then? “I enormously respect Julian but he deals in the upstairs/downstairs element while Mr Selfridge isn’t really about class, so we feel we are quite different. This is about an upstart American who comes to town. But TV just works for me. I find the story development really exciting and I love watching it evolve.

Cocktails with Mr Selfridge: Kate Brooke will be joined by cast members Trystan Gravelle and Amy Morgan on Sunday September 28 at the Blenheim Literary Festival. www.blenheimpalaceliteraryfestival.com