I now mainly write books and screenplays, and have a blog covering a wide range of topics: https://richmedfilmbooks.blogspot.com/

I have had three books published: God's Triangle, the true story about my investigation into what happened to a missionary great aunt in Bengal (now Bangladesh), The Mortal Maze, a fictional thriller about the corruption of a television foreign correspondent by the intelligence services. A third book, Florrie - A Life Unexpected, is a novel based on the story of God’s Triangle. Next to be published is another thriller, Seeds of Revenge. I also have four screenplays in various stages of development.

First of all I need to be intrigued. With my non-fiction book, God's Triangle, my journalistic instincts told me that there was a story that should be investigated and might provide some enlightenment, if told sensitively. As for The Mortal Maze, I wanted to use fiction to explore moral challenges that inevitably arise for journalists when working in a foreign, often dangerous, environment.

It was a gradual thing, but when I worked in the field for BBC World Service News and was later in charge of about 200 foreign correspondents, I became suspicious that there were a small number of my journalists working not just for the BBC but for the intelligence services. The accuracy of their reporting was not in question, but by playing a double game, they were undermining the ethics of journalism and putting both themselves and their colleagues in danger.

I do things back to front to what is the usual approach to story telling. I write a screenplay first because that allows me to establish characters and a simple story structure with a clear beginning and end. Then I write the book version, expanding on the characters and the events that embrace them. My book God's Triangle is, in essence, a diary that takes the reader on the same journey that I took as I tracked down the truth. In a way, The Mortal Maze is also a diary, but one in which I have imagined the events and characters.

It's inevitable that there is some blurring of fact and fiction, often unconsciously. None of the events in The Mortal Maze actually took place, but similar ones did happen, or will happen. I'm very pleased that so many early readers have referred to the story as being 'authentic'. That's good because the best drama, in my view, must have a plausibility about it. Fantasy is not my writing style.

Initially, I did think of setting the story in a fictitious broadcasting organisation, but finally felt that as most readers would know my broadcasting background, they would assume this organisation was really the BBC. Although the story contains some complex and unpleasant characters, I'm pleased that so far there is no serious suggestion that the story is hostile to the BBC as an organisation. Despite its faults, it is an organisation that I greatly admire. I was immensely proud to have worked for it for so many years..

I don't think there is anything of me in the character, but that's for others to judge. Jackson is a character created as a dramatic device to help tell a story. I can honestly say that I had no-one in particular in mind with him. But I have to admit that there are other characters who are an amalgam of some I've worked with. Some I admired; some I did not.

My first book, God's Triangle, was my investigation into why Australian missionary Florence "Florrie" Cox was innocently caught up in a church scandal and cover-up by the church, the Supreme Court of Victoria, and the Freemasons. It was entirely factual, but I felt there was much more needed to be told. Hence I resorted to fiction with a novel that explored what happened, based on knowledge and plausibility. I could only guess at some of what happened but I am confident that my account is close to the truth.

I don't set out to be controversial, but seeking the truth can be disturbing for some readers. There are things that certain people prefer not to know. However, I am pleased that there have been very few objections to "God's Triangle" and "Florrie - A Life Unexpected". Some family members felt that the story of Florence "Florrie" Cox was too sensitive to be told, but the objections faded away once the final manuscripts were seen.

Keeping in touch with my extended family in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Yes, it was when I was just 18 years old. My local newspaper in Australia, the Charlton Tribune, published my graphic account of the Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree at Wonga Park near Melbourne in 1956. The jamboree went down in scouting history as one of the wettest and most muddy that ever took place.