“The common mayfly has a life expectancy of just one day,” announced the voiceover in a memorable Vodafone advert from the early Noughties. “But is he miserable about it? Not one bit.” This insect’s life, repurposed as metaphor, has come to represent the flickering flame that is human existence. Life, getting shorter with every passing minute. It’s no surprise then that Scottish novelist Andrew O’Hagan used “mayflies” as the title of his 2020 novel about two friends working through a lifetime of memories as the light fades, a story that’s adapted this Christmas as a BBC One two-part special.
Martin Compston is Jimmy, a successful author returning to the Ayrshire of his youth at the behest of Tully (Tony Curran), his oldest friend who has incurable cancer. “I’m f***ed, Noodles,” he says, using Jimmy’s childhood nickname. “I’ve got four months and that’s the short of it.” Jimmy – the nebbish half of the duo – is drawn back into the world of charismatic Tully, as the dying man plans a trip to Switzerland to end his life. But exiting the stage is not simple – Tully’s wife Anna (Ashley Jensen) wants him to persist with chemotherapy and try to prolong his time on Earth. Through this process of premature trauma, Jimmy and Tully are forced to confront the kids they were, and the men they’ve become.
