Here, then, is the first of two interviews weve done with Matthew.
How did you become involved and what did you do on the show?
He said I think the time has come to talk about doing a live-actionStar Warsshow.
It had been rumoured for a long time.
Rick has a particular love of British writers and Australian writers.
As a result of throwing the net out, Rick and Steve watchedLife On Marsand loved it.
He watched a couple of episodes and really liked it.
Was that betweenLife On MarsandAshes To Ashes?
No, I was makingBonekickersthen.Ashes To Ashesseries one was just going out.
So I went to a hotel in London that George was at….
Was it a Travelodge?
Id love to say George Lucas met me in a Travelodge!
No, it wasnt!
Then I was going in a corridor and they said its room 261 or whatever.
So I knocked, and yep, George was in the lounge area of the room.
It went from being a bit surreal to very quickly getting chatting.
Afterwards, I found out that a lot of writers had got very tongue-tied with George.
Until George gets to know you, hes a bit awkward.
He doesnt tend to look at you, he shrugs a lot.
And he would have picked up on my nerves very quickly.
But lots of those interviews turned into disasters.
George wasnt talking much, the writers werent talking much.
Whereas I had a lot to say for myself [laughs].
We got chatting, and later I got a phone call saying Id got the job!
The other Brit that was hired wasChris Chibnall.
We had Australian writers, a couple of American writers.
Sometimes people came and went.
A couple of the American guys didnt work out so well, so they left.
ThenRonald D. Moorecame in about six months into the process, and he did time with us.
Towards the end we had a wonderful Irish writer called Terry Cafolla.
He came in and joined us for the last three or four sessions that we did.
Wed be with George from nine until five in the afternoon, and wed breakStar Warsstories.
What do you remember of that, and what was the endpoint for you?
We were under no impression that there was an end.
Which is very much his way of thinking.
If he likes something, he takes it beyond what you think is possible to do.
The thing youve got to understand about George is that theres a lot of crap written about him.
Rightly or wrongly, because we all know he has weaknesses as a writer.
There was no talk about him selling the company.
That was as big a surprise to us as it was to everybody.
That was all going on very quietly behind the scenes.
I think it happened very quickly.
Im not sure what made George suddenly decide that he wanted to get out.
Because he was very happy developingStar Warswith us.
What was your last day, then?
We just came to the end of the process.
He wanted fifty scripts, and we got to the point where there were fifty scripts.
Some of them were at first draft, some at third draft.
Some needed a lot more work, some were in a really good shape.
We had a good sense of the overview of the world, and where it was going.
We did have a hell of a lot of fun.
Hes a very funny man to hang out with.
We would sit there and storyline, and Rick, the producer, would often be in the room.
And hed whisk us down to his screening room, and wed watch an old movie.
He put on his personal print ofAmerican Graffitiand have us a live directors commentary while we watched it!
He loved to do things like that, he really did.
We just parted company with a shake of the hand.
Then I was told, when we start gearing up on production, well probably start in Australia.
Helping with getting them production ready.
But, of course, that day never came.
After you shook hands and left, did you ever hear anything again?
Or did it just die a quick death?
I cant remember the timeframe.
We worked on the show in 2008, 2009, maybe bled a little into 2010.
I had phone catch-ups with the producers about when they were going to move the production to Australia.
You found it out at exactly the same minute as the rest of us?
No I havent really.
I know that theyve got the scripts, and that the scripts have been read.
And it was about then that you landed theStar Warsjob.
I dont think that George would have perceived what I was doing or going through in any particular way.
I know critics grumbled about it, but we had such a strong, positive public response to it.
And I also felt that it would bed down and find its own style eventually.
WithBonekickers, I was disappointed that people didnt like it.
But I was okay aboutAshes.I didnt feel kicked around.
I felt like that the press were being a bit unkind, but the public seemed to like it.
So I thought Id wait and see.
I certainly think what I learned about George over time was that he is not above that.
He hears criticism acutely.
It affects him very badly, and it makes him sad.
The thing about George is he never curls up into a ball.
If he feels under attack, he just will carry on.
Hell do it even more.
Hes actually hell-bent on showing you that he wont be bowed by your opinion.
He wouldnt have a career if he hadnt have done that.
A double edged sword, though.
To say the least.
Ive always defended those prequels, though.
Im not stupid, I can see that there are problems with them.
Matthew Graham, thank you very much.
Childhoods End is available on Sky now, and on DVD and Blu-ray in the US.