Mayflies star Rian Gordon: I’m from Ayrshire, live in Kilmarnock, and had never heard of a story like this coming from here

It is a story that has captured hearts and minds, sparking a new appreciation of our lost youth, enduring friendship and life passing.

Andrew O’Hagan’s acclaimed novel, Mayflies, examining across a number of decades the often overlooked importance of male friendship – from the euphoria of adolescence to the mortality of adult life – became a huge hit when published two years ago.

The semi-autobiographical story about the lifelong friendship between central characters Tully and Jimmy resonates with readers and triggered further conversations in Scotland about legalising assisted dying, after Tully asks his best friend to accompany him to a Swiss medical facility when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

A two-part television adaptation will be broadcast next week, featuring an all-star cast of Scottish talent, including Martin Compston and Tony Curran as Jimmy and Tully, as well as Ashley Jensen, Elaine C Smith, Shauna Macdonald, Cal MacAninch and Colin McCredie.

Split between two timelines – 1986, when the friends were music-loving teenagers, and the present day – Rian Gordon and Tom Glynn-Carney play the younger versions of the central characters. Despite the heavy subject matter in the second half of the novel, Gordon believes the story is ideal for this time of year.

“The story at the heart of it is about friendship and I think that’s why the novel resonated with people so much during lockdown,” said Gordon, who started his TV career as a child actor on River City. “In our portion of the story, we tackle the importance of male friendship and getting away from that toxic masculinity and having males encourage other males – you know, Tully encourages Jimmy to pursue writing and use the talent he has – and sometimes boys can do the opposite of that.”

The story’s Ayrshire setting also struck a chord with Gordon: “I read the book during the casting process, before I was offered the role, and the first thing that popped out to me were the locations and the geography. I’m from Ayrshire, I live in Kilmarnock, and I hadn’t heard of a story like this coming from here before.”

Filming stories 30 years apart, Gordon and co-star Glynn-Carney didn’t spend time on set with Compston and Curran, but they did have the chance to get together early on in the process.

“A couple of days into filming, our producer, Claire Mundell, organised a dinner at her house and we all got to meet. Tom and Tony were standing together, and me and Martin, and we were all nodding and saying it was going to be cool, and it was,” Gordon said.

“We didn’t talk about mannerisms or the way we would act as characters, because there is so many years between the two settings, but Martin said he was open to any advice we had, and he was an open book and encouraged us to come and ask for any help or to answer any questions we had. The 1986 filming was done first, so we had filmed about 95% of that before the older cast took over with the contemporary storyline. In comparison to what they were doing, we had a lot lighter subject matter and it was great fun.

“In the first week of filming, we had the full Barrowland Ballroom to ourselves to film all of the gig sequences. Some days we had 300 extras on set and it was a total dream, especially recreating the New Order gig. All the actors portraying the band could really play the tunes, so it was just like being at a gig.”

As well as the talent on-screen, Mayflies boasts a stellar line-up behind the camera. Made by Synchronicity Films, the production company behind hit series The Cry, it was adapted by Andrea Gibb, the Bafta-nominated screenwriter of Elizabeth Is Missing, and directed by multi-award-winner Peter Mackie Burns.

“I didn’t know until I was attached who else was involved,” Gordon said. “And it’s not just the cast, but to be speaking the words of Andrew O’Hagan as adapted through Andrea, and directed by Peter Mackie Burns, who I’ve been a fan of since school, and made by Synchronicity, who I’ve been wanting to work with since I first heard of them.”

Gordon started on River City in 2010, playing Conor Brodie over a number of years, and has appeared in Hollyoaks, Holby City, Doctors, and the films Final Score and Get Duked. More recently, he has been part of the growth in filming in Scotland, appearing in Vigil, Crime and Karen Pirie, and will begin working on a new feature film early in the New Year.

“I’d been doing soap operas and TV shows while I was at school,” he added. “I mucked about and didn’t get any results and when the summer came and my friends were going off to work or university, I thought, ‘OK, I need to start taking this more seriously if I’m going to do it as a job’. I had an agent in London at the time and I moved down there. I’m not complaining at all with how it’s going.

“Now, I can’t wait for everyone to see Mayflies. It’s been like having a secret you really want to share with everyone.”

Mayflies, BBC Scotland, December 27 and 28 at 10pm and on iPlayer