'Unreal': Glasgow playwright on working for Corrie and River City

Throw in some music, too, courtesy of Andy McGregor, and you have Kim Millar’s deliciously dark comedy The Worm Who Turned, which runs until Saturday.

“It started as a black comedy and before I knew it, it was a musical, but I think it works well – that’s for the audience to decide, of course,” says Kim. “It’s a bit of a romp.”

George Drennan and Clare Waugh (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

Former Glasgow Times journalist Kim, who has written for some of Britain’s best-known and most-loved soaps and drama series, including Coronation Street, Casualty, Doctors, Hollyoaks, Waterloo Road and The Dumping Ground, does not own an allotment, she admits – but she did her research.

Kim Millar (Image: Colin Mearns, Newsquest)

“I got a tour of one which was really lovely – all beautifully laid out, with wally closes in a toilet block, very posh,” she marvels. “It was like a village. I started thinking about the people who would visit, and their partners, who DON’T visit. Coincidentally, I’d just watched Les Diaboliques, a 1950s French film which is all about a woman and her husband’s mistress, hatching a revenge plot...”

She grins: “I thought – that kind of triangle would work.”

Kim, right, with cast and crew in rehearsals (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

Writing for a long-running continuing drama and creating a one-hour play with three characters is not as different as it sounds, says Kim.

“They are both about characters, and story structure,” she says. “You do get a lot more freedom at Oran Mor, though – I love writing for telly, but A Play, A Pie and A Pint gives you such freedom to use your imagination and I love that.”

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Kim was a graduate trainee at Scottish Television before she joined the Glasgow Evening Times as a features writer. She left in 2002 to become press officer for a new Scottish drama series launching that year, called River City.

Helen Logan (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

“It was a huge thing at the time, and of course it's still going strong today,” she says. “I moved from the press team into storylining and that’s what gave me the experience and the platform to move on to things like Coronation Street and Casualty.

“River City is fantastic – it's still going strong because it has real heart and warmth.”

Kim – who was responsible for one of River City’s most shocking scenes, in which Ruth (Morag Calder) pushed her mother Gina (Libby McArthur) down the stairs – moved to Coronation Street in 2005.

She worked on the long-running storyline in which Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) developed Alzheimer’s, before dying in the arms of his old rival Ken Barlow (William Roache).

“I was a huge fan of Corrie – I watched it all the time with my mum and it felt like part of my life,” says Kim. “Being on set was incredible – I mean, you’d just be chatting and turn round and there was Ken Barlow, just standing there.”

She laughs: “It felt unreal at times. I learned so much on that show, it is a very well-oiled machine and everyone is at the top of their game.

“Casualty was great too – although I was a total hypochondriac by the time I’d finished.

“I really enjoyed writing for David (John Derr), his bipolar storyline was one of my favourites, and I love Dylan (William Keogh).

“Every show brings its own joys and challenges.”

Kim, who recently moved from Glasgow to the Highlands, says she wants to write an eco-drama set in the north of Scotland.

“Eco-drama doesn’t sound that sexy,” she admits, adding with a laugh: “Although I’ve done murder and mayhem on an allotment, so you never know…”