A TALE about a family’s move from Scotland to Mallorca to run an orange farm could be transformed into a television series.
Peter Kerr and his family spent three years on the Spanish island after swapping West Garleton, between Haddington and Aberlady, for land about 20 miles west of Palma.
Years later, he put pen to paper on his memoirs, which spawned four more books and a prequel.
Now, the story could make its way from the page to the small screen.
Peter said: “It is in the early stages but it is very real.
“These things can take years to come about and this dates back to about a year after Snowball Oranges came out.
“An independent producer, Mia Jupp, took an interest in it for a television series and took up an option.
“They gave a contract that gives them the rights for so many years to try to adapt the story for film or television.
“She tried her best but for some reason it did not come off.”
Now, there has been fresh interest from Palma Pictures, which is based on the Balearic Island.
Peter, who also penned the Bob Burns Investigates series, remained hopeful that the television dream could become a reality.
He said: “Everybody is after the same slots on television and has the same budgets.
“It is a tough world but they are a big company.
“I think, originally, I would have liked Spike Milligan to play me but he is dead!
“I will leave it at that.”
The stories have proven popular across the world and have been translated into more than a dozen languages, including Polish, Hungarian, Swedish and German.
Having already been translated for the Chinese and Korean markets, Peter, 82, has been approached once again.
He said: “Yilin Press, China’s leading publisher of ‘foreign’ books in the Chinese language, have just released Four Seasons in Mallorca, featuring the Snowball Oranges series as a four-book box set.
“Yilin are anticipating lots of interest, which is all good for Chinese/Scottish relations.”
Strangely, the stories, which are described as “humorous accounts of our experiences while running a small orange farm on the island”, have never been translated into Spanish.
Peter, who lives on Haddington’s Chalybeate, said: “The Chinese books are completely alien to me.
“The only thing that is maybe salient is that although the books are set in Mallorca in Spain, they have never been translated into Spanish.
“I have been told the Spanish publishing industry, they obviously translate loads of books, but are not that keen on non-Spanish people writing about their adventure in Spain.
“For whatever reason, it has been the case since way back in 2000 when the first one came out.
“There has never been a Spanish translation.”
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