Scarecrows, Bogeymen and Stranger Danger

When I first thought of writing my take on a ‘bogle’ story, ‘Tears of the Tatty Bogle’, I began to wonder about the scarecrow character (as tatty bogles are often represented) and why they lend themselves so readily to use in scary tales.

Clearly there’s the iconic, grizzly look – the stuffed man with a sack for a head and sewn-up eyes, crucified and left alone in a barren field. But the same figure has been used in an unthreatening way in stories – Worzel Gummidge and the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz being obvious examples.

A scarecrow from Human Nature/Family of Blood episodes of Doctor Who, 2007

It made me think of a frightening lone figure in a field from my childhood, the perfectly spooky-story named, ‘Tracker Joe’.

Not a scarecrow, but a living bogeyman, Tracker Joe was the sinister groundsman who used to tend the golf course I grew up near. Let me give you some context here – I lived on a council estate on Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness and the golf course was there because of the sandy soil; us scum-bag kids from the estate weren’t really welcome at the clubhouse door.

I remember from a young age (around four or five years-old) hearing the stories of what Tracker Joe would do to you if he caught you on the fairway. The one that stuck in my memory was simple but effective: if he found you trespassing, Joe would lift you onto the trailer he pulled behind his tractor and take you to his dark, tool-filled shed; there, he would put your hand in a vice and extract your fingernails, one-by-one, with dirty pliers. Presumably to deter you from stealing precious golf balls.

I don’t know the origin of the stories about Tracker Joe, but I do know this – it was the children who perpetuated them. I was told the stories by the older kids on the estate, the pre-teens us youngsters would try to hang around with, and the teenagers they would try to hang around with. It was perhaps one of the few times the oldest children engaged with the youngest – when they were trying to scare the crap out of us.

Obviously, looking back now it’s clear why the stories existed. What better way to keep the kids out of somewhere that adults don’t want them to be than to terrify them with stories of the awful consequences of transgression? Don’t stray from the path or you’ll get eaten by the wolf. Don’t go into the potato fields or the Tatty Bogle will get you. The great thing is that if the story is really scary then you only have to tell it once for it to take hold and the audience will do the rest by retelling it, embellishing it every time... just like the Tracker Joe stories and the kids on my estate.

We might not hear these urban tales so much today but we do have our bogeymen. We warn our children about the stranger who lurks near the school gates, ready to invite them into his car. Believe me, as a parent, these stories scare the hell out of me.

But while they clearly serve an important purpose, what truths do they obscure? Is the danger really in the woods or is it more likely to be at the end of the path? Was it Tracker Joe us kids should have been wary of or perhaps a monster waiting at home? According to the NSPCC, children are far more likely to know an abuser than not.

The danger outside the home verses the danger within the home was something I had in mind when I wrote ‘Tears of the Tatty Bogle’. While it might not have been the main theme of the story, it was certainly something that informed every part of the writing. I’ll leave you to decide who the real bogeyman of the tale is.

Tears of the Tatty Bogle on amazon.co.uk

Tears of the Tatty Bogle on amazon.com

Don’t Forget Your Friends - in soap, family matters, but it’s good to have friends too

The arrival of new families has been in the soap-related news recently, first with the appearance of the extended Carter family in EastEnders, then with the announcement that Coronation Street is soon to get its first Muslim family in the show’s history.

Traditionally, family has always been at the heart of soap stories (and a lot of other TV drama too – the wonderful Game of Thrones is all about rival families, albeit on a larger scale and with fancier costumes than you’ll find in most soaps) and it’s not difficult to understand why; familial relationships provide the potential for conflict that many other relationships don’t as they are build on the most powerful bonds.

And conflict is the lifeblood of drama; it fuels the engine that drives drama. Hence the reason for the central role of families and family life in soap opera set-ups and stories.

But as we all know, it’s good to have friends. And this is as much true in drama as it is in life. TV soap writers and producers have understood this from the earliest days of the genre: think of Ena Sharples gossiping with Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst in the snug of the Rovers Return in only the second episode of Coronation Street.

For a start, where do you go when you need to talk to someone about the problems you’re having with your family (or your lover, or your enemy)? You go to a friend. Everybody needs a trusted confidant, someone to spill your deep, dark thoughts and feelings to, and soap characters are no different.

This can actually be pretty handy if you’re a soap writer and need to let the audience in on a troubled character’s emotional turmoil; you could have them muttering to themselves about the desire to murder a treacherous sibling or turning to camera to do the same, but having them tell a friend is ultimately more believable and satisfactory.

Another thing a focus on friendship offers is relief from the very conflict that’s needed to drive stories. It’s good to be able to pull back from the problems, arguments and strife and experience a little lightness, warmth and humour. That’s why it’s healthy to spend time in Streetcars with Lloyd, Steve and Eileen, now we’re fretting about Roy’s whereabouts, just like it was good to hang out with Minty and Garry in the Arches when there was a lot of yelling going on in the Queen Vic.

So friends can offer the promise of positivity amid the darkness of a dramatic life; they can back you up in the midst of family failings, like Fatboy being there for Tamwar in EastEnders just now (or Bronn being there for Tyrion in Game of Thrones for that matter) and they can also help save you from yourself, as Bob Adams did with his hapless pal Deek Henderson in one my episodes of BBC One Scotland’s River City, when Deek spiralled out of control and into a dark place after the death of his mother.

But because of the very fact that characters do open up to their friends and trust them with their innermost secrets, this can lead to the possibility of that trust being broken. Which is great for creating dramatic tension: we might need to unburden ourselves to a pal but what might they do with those dark secrets in the future? Can we trust them? Will they betray us?

And what if the confidant learns something they didn’t want to hear, that a friend has done something illegal perhaps? The moral dilemma that this kind of situation generates is often the thing that really grabs an audience and pulls them into the drama; we lean forward in our seats as we experience the character’s emotional and ethical struggle for ourselves.

Perhaps one of the finest examples of this kind of moral struggle happened when a much-loved soap character was asked to do something illegal and against her every belief and principle for her closest friend. We surely all remember the trauma experienced by Dot when Ethel, suffering from cancer, asked her to assist in her death. This was a friendship so important, so solidly build on love and trust, that Dot’s steadfast religious beliefs had to buckle under the strain of the request. And it made great viewing.

So it’s clear that significant friendships, like family relationships, are vital in drama, especially soap.

It’s great that the Carter family have been such a successful addition to EastEnders; I just hope that we see each of them develop strong bonds outside of the family over the coming months. This has already started to an extent, with Johnny’s budding friendship with Whitney (now all that initial confusion has been dealt with!) and the tentative bond developing between Linda and Sharon – something that’s bound to bring them as much strife as joy.

As the rest of Kal Nazir’s family hasn’t appeared yet, it’s too early to say how the Coronation Street story team will handle their friendships. But, for me, it’s a good sign that the introduction of this new family has started not with them arriving en masse, but with Kal and his growing bond with Dev. But who knows where this new friendship will take the pair, especially as they have begun to mix it with business? We can only keep watching to find out.