The creator of the BBC crime dramas Silent Witness and New Tricks has spoken publicly for the first time about being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live programme, Nigel McCrery, 71, said he received the news three weeks ago.
“It comes as quite a shock,” he said.
“I mean people deal with their deaths in different ways, and I think it’s all very, very individual to each of us. But I think for a little while you do go into shock – or I did, and I was in a bit of a state.”
McCrery served as a police officer with the murder squad in Nottingham before starting his career in TV.
Speaking to the BBC in 2013, he left school “under a cloud destined to do not much at all”, having struggled with dyslexia – going on to work in a number of jobs before joining the police.
After leaving Nottinghamshire Police, he joined the BBC on a graduate entry scheme in 1990, soon moving into the drama department.
He drew from his policing background to create the drama Backup, which ran from 1995 to 1997 and was about a police operational support unit in the West Midlands.
After that success, he went on to create the drama Silent Witness in 1996, which follows forensic pathologists and scientists investigating crimes and trying to catch the people responsible. Initially starring Amanda Burton and then Emilia Fox, it became one of the BBC’s most enduring shows, with series 27 earlier this year.
A third crime show followed when he created New Tricks in 2005. The show which focused on three retired police officers who were drafted in to solve cold cases, and became a starring vehicle for Dennis Waterman, ran for 10 years
A rare departure from crime dramas came in 2002 when McCrery created the BBC drama Born and Bred alongside Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall. The TV series ran from 2002 to 2005 and was about life in the fictional Lancashire village of Ormston in the 1950s.
Speaking about his diagnosis, McCrery told Saturday Live: “I used to cry a lot, I used to sob a lot.”
Responding to this, host Nikki Bedi said: “You’re saying used to like it’s in the past, but it’s only three weeks.”
“I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get used to that,” responded McCrery.
“It’s not that I’m scared of dying, I’m actually not. I have wonderful granddaughters, and it’s missing them growing up. It’s the things I’ll be missing by not being around that I’ll find the hardest to cope with.”
McCrery – who has also written a number of fiction and non-fiction books, including the Silent Witness book series – said that the diagnosis is in the back of his mind “all the time”, and an emotional reaction can be set off by something like music.
“I don’t like crying in public, so I tend to get myself out of the way until it’s out of my system,” he said.
“And I’m hoping that as time goes on and the realisation becomes more real that I’ll calm down completely.
“I’m more scared of crying in front of my granddaughters, actually.”
During the interview, McCrery did not specify the nature of the illness.
He added: “You push, and you try and get this made and that made, but the bottom line is – the best bet is to be with your family.”
