New blood

In smoky public houses nationwide sit junior doctors contemplating alternative employment. Four years ago John Hodge, then an aspiring physician, clutching 40 sheets of handwritten screenplay, met Andrew MacDonald, aspiring film producer. A film, according to MacDonald, could be “visualised as he read.” Channel 4 and the City of Glasgow Film Fund put up a million pounds—and Shallow Grave erupted in the new year at a cinema near you. Were their efforts worth while?

The plot is straightforward. Three young self assured, self regarding Edinburgh professionals seek flatmate to share spectacular New Town flat. Conventional applicants are contemptuously, indeed sadistically, …