Tony Curran

Mayflies: how the BBC adapted Andrew O'Hagan's life-affirming ode to friendship and love

Tony Curran and Martin Compston looking out to sea in BBC series Mayflies

Few novels have excited as much love and devotion as Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies, a funny, tender but heart-rending tale of male friendship. Now, only two years after its publication, an adaptation is coming to the BBC, an astonishingly quick turnaround for television drama.

First look images released of Mayflies starring Martin Compston and Tony Curran

Tony Curran as Tully and Martin Compston as Jimmy in Mayflies (credit: BBC)

Directed by Peter Mackie Burns (Rialto), the two-part drama follows the life-defining friendship between Tully (Tony Curran) and Jimmy (Martin Compston).

It’s summer 1986 in a small Scottish town. Jimmy and Tully have ignited a brilliant friendship based on music, films, and the rebel spirit.