The concept for Magpie is a strangely coincidental mix of fact and fiction. In early 2013 Carmel Hannant dreamt of a story of love and companionship amidst the backdrop of late 30’s, early 40’s Norfolk. After initially writing the screenplay and working on further drafts with Paul Cook as a co-writer of the project, Carmel made progress with her own family history research. In an amazing turn of (past) life imitating art, Carmel discovered that during World War II a family member had in fact lived a life very close to the story that she had written. 

Carmel spent the next 6 months developing the plot lines and characters in the film whilst simultaneously researching her family history in more detail. As each new piece of information surfaced, new drafts of the screenplay felt more and more real. The idea that so many women in Britain fell in love with US servicemen during WWII fascinated the film’s writers. The notion of the ‘G.I. Bride” and also the stories of married women falling for another man felt like s thread to the story that needed investigation.

Alongside this love-triangle storyline, Carmel wanted to explore an aspect of life during and after WWII that less discussed; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is an illness that effects veterans of all conflicts and has for the past 30-40 years become more widely recognised. However, in 1940, and for decades after the conflict, only terms like “battle fatigue” and “shell-shock” were used, often  leading to misdiagnosis and little-to-no effective treatment for PTSD-sufferers. This was something that compelled the writers to investigate further and convey on-screen in the character of George.