Bangor-born novelist and screenwriter Colin Bateman on his latest BBC series Dead and Buried

The story goes like this: When out shopping with her son, a young mum Cathy McDaid (Scholey) literally bumps trolleys with Michael McAllister (Morgan), the man responsible for killing her brother Terry 20 years ago.

Unable to comprehend that he's now a free man, teacher Cathy creates an online alias in order to befriend Michael, instigating a clandestine relationship with the man she despises and embarking on a campaign of harassment and deceit.

Bateman, who is also the show’s executive producer, says: “It’s really to do with something that is very common in Northern Ireland, particularly in smaller towns, where you can bump into somebody who has done something to your family and it’s a question of how do you react to that.

"A lot of us harbour little revenge fantasies. Lots of us go online and do a little stalking to see what people are up to, and Cathy does all of that, except it gets out of control and begins to spiral – then it becomes a story about the two of them, Cathy and Michael. Hopefully you are constantly wondering who is doing what and who is the worst of the two of them and all the time they are drawing closer together as well. There’s lots of twists and hopefully your opinion will constantly change as to who’s good and who’s bad.”

Bateman’s Dead & Buried began life as a short story for Radio 4 called The Gaining of Wisdom, then it was a one-woman play Bag for Life and now there’s the TV version.

"If you go back 10 years to when I wrote the short story it was more Troubles-related and flashed back to the Good Friday Agreement, with prisoners being released, but the more I looked at the story, and as it developed into the play and the TV series, I realised that it’s definitely not about the Troubles, it’s a universal thing.

“In every country in the world people face the same situation – how do you react if you meet someone who has damaged your family – it doesn’t matter where it’s set, anyone can be in that position.”

Bangor man Bateman, whose acclaimed film and TV work includes, Murphy’s Law, Doc Martin and The Journey (2016), a fictionalised account of the relationship between the late Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, has threaded his usual dark comedy through the fabric of this intimate portrayal of grief and obsession.

“Everything I do, or everything I’ve done, always has an element of humour in it. That doesn’t mean it’s a comedy, and it’s not a comedy by a long stretch, but it’s just the way we speak here (in Norther Ireland) and the way we deal with things….there’s always a joke that follows something bad or dark, it’s that gallows sense of humour, it’s quite dark and quite sarcastic.”

Bateman, who comes across as self-deprecating and grounded despite his mammoth success, creates his compelling stories at the kitchen table, sustained by copious amounts of his favourite tipple, Pepsi Max, “which I’m sure is rotting me slowly from the inside, but it’s the only bad habit I think I have.”

So what’s it like seeing his words transformed from page to screen?

“I haven’t watched the entire show yet. I’ve watched the first episode, but I’ve seen clips of it as we’ve gone along.

“Writing is very much a solitary profession, I’m sitting at home writing my scripts and then it becomes a team sport, so many other talented people get involved and bring things to it that I could never imagine, so it’s always fascinating to see how it turns out and I think they have done a really good job.”

On Monday night when the show airs, he admits he’ll be on social media to see what everyone thinks of it.

"I think I’ll be binge watching my own series, sitting in front of the telly. I’m looking forward to it.”

The 62-year-old began his career as a journalist at the Bangor Spectator, crafting his own stories after work.

“The truth is I wouldn’t have become a writer if I hadn’t done the journalism. I learned so much as a journalist and I still draw on that and even the approach to working goes back to journalism –once you have finished a story, you move on to the next one. I’m always working on a lot of different projects.”

Thanks to his 1995 debut, Divorcing Jack, a darkly comic thriller about the convergence of politics, sectarianism, and gangsterism in Northern Ireland, Bateman has gone on to become a best-selling novelist and screenwriter.

“It all started because Divorcing Jack got published. Overnight you go from someone who has a bit of a hobby and never expects to be published to being a successful writer and once that happens all sorts of doors start to open; people approach you about TV or film or stage – and none of it would have happened if I hadn’t had the discipline when I got home from work at The Spectator to sit for an hour every night and try writing that book. In a way, that’s what I’m proudest of, that I actually did it.”

Bateman’s other illustrious upcoming event will be the release of Killing Castro, a film he wrote about the life of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, starring none other than A-list Hollywood actor Al Pacino.

“Al Pacino is an absolute hero of mine, so it’s surreal that he’s going to be in something I’ve written. The movie was shot in New York late last year. It was written four or five years ago and it was made by a company out there, so I wasn’t out on the set.”

And there may be a movie with a more local connection.

"I’m talking to some people about doing a movie about George Best, but it’s very, very early days. It’s a very strange business, 99 per cent of what you do never gets made, and that’s true of all people who work in TV and film, so you never know if something is going to finally make it to the screen.”

Bateman, who lives with partner Louise and has two sons, is humble when it comes to fame.

“I am world famous in Bangor,” he jokes. “I am very much involved in life in the town and I work with our new arts centre, at the Courthouse, very closely. The name is probably recognised I suspect throughout Northern Ireland and a bit in England, but it’s not the sort of recognition or fame that an actor would get.”

That said, there will be special feature on him on BBC One’s The One Show on Monday night (September 2) presented by legendary broadcaster Angela Rippon who came to Northern Ireland to interview him.

“I had a full day with Angela Rippon going round Belfast and Bangor filming with her for the piece on The One Show. We were in No Alibis bookshop, the Spectator office. We went to my old home at Wellington Park in Bangor. She was absolutely lovely.”

Was the Bangor man ever tempted to move London, say, to progress his career?

“It used to be that you almost needed to live in London to have any sort of a TV or film career, but the world has certainly changed so you can do it all from here. I love travelling. I’m off to France the week after next with this TV show for a festival there. You do get the opportunities to go places, but I always like coming home.”

*Dead And Buried starts on September 2 on BBC One NI at 10.40pm. The full series will be available on BBC iPlayer from 9pm that evening.