It was only meant to be for my own entertainment....

I'd been writing jokes on social media for a few years, simply to entertain my friends, when suddenly; I started to notice that week after week, the majority of the material I wrote would coincidentally end up being told by some of the biggest names in show business, on prime time T.V. in both the U.K and the U.S. later that same week.

Three years later, my life had been turned upside down, meaning that, as a result of an accident, I'd not only become largely disabled, but had lost my social life and my job because of it.

A friend suggested that I turn to comedy to simply stop myself from going mad and so I began writing a story, set in a fictional swing dance class, based very loosely on the days when I used to teach dance in my spare time.

By the end of the day, I had 5 pages of jokes and 4 pages of situations to work with.

The story had originally meant to circulate solely around Tamara, a failed ballerina who (supposedly) turned down a promising career in ballet in order to marry into money.

Forty years later however, she finds herself still unfulfilled, with a lifestyle she'd always dreamed of but with a husband constantly away on business… prompting her to reclaim her childhood dream of one day becoming a prima ballerina, or failing that, a teaching assistant at a flea-bitten swing dance class based under the Heathrow flight path.

Armed with only 2 dance moves to her name, Tamara then infiltrates the swing dance class with one aim in mind… to claw her way to the top of the cutthroat world of dance the best way she knows how… by throwing herself at the most powerful man there; self-proclaimed head teacher Jon, who ironically only knows one move himself.

Tamara's master plan instantly starts to unravel when she realises that not only is Jon married… but he too is also in the midst of his own forbidden extra marital affair with a fellow member of staff.

Nevertheless, Tamara eventually uses every trick in the book in the hopes of not only securing her place as the most influential person at SWINGERS, but also snaring alpha male Jon.

As the opening scene then suggests, this results in clear dissention between the ranks, seeing the majority of highly qualified staff working for free, whilst Jon and Tamara are the only ones getting paid for, essentially being the least qualified of the group to actually teach dance… all the while having to pretend that they all get along like one big happy family in front of the paying customers.

This one storyline alone I thought would appeal to anyone who's had the misfortune of working alongside a colleague who, despite their ignorance and incompetence, manage to get highly paid for what they do.

I then included, what is now the main storyline, following Clive as he gets dragged to a dance class and ends up meeting the love of his life, beginner teacher Kay.

Again life would be straight forward if it weren’t for two things; not only has Kay got a partner; fellow dance teacher Simon, but by the time Kay and Clive first meet, Clive has already been falsely arrested on three charges, and so she keeps him at arm's length, for obvious reasons.

Within months I had, what I feel is a comedy that could rival the biggest comedies on T.V. in both the U.K. and the U.S. with a topic that looked equally set to rival Strictly Come Dancing in the U.K. and Dancing With The Stars (or DWTS) in the U.S. with Strictly Come Dancing having recently been announced as the world's most successful television format with audience figures regularly exceeding 11 million viewers per week in the U.K. alone. 

By late 2013 I had enough written material for 32 episodes, making up what would have been 4 series and a 1 hour long Christmas finale.

I then contacted the various actors/entertainers whom I'd had in mind when writing specific parts, often travelling the country in great pain to meet them personally, most of whom hid behind agents who simply never reply, for no given reason, despite in some cases contacting them up to 30 times.

I then had limited success contacting production companies in the U.K. Ireland and the U.S. (up to and including Steven Spielberg) before I eventually took matters into my own hands.

I personally sourced 99% of the locations the series would have needed as well as 99% of background extras and the necessary choreographers it would have required.

I also created a Twitter feed, dedicated to promoting my work, which to this day is the biggest swing dance related page on Twitter.  You can follow me by clicking the link below.  

I also created a Facebook page around SWINGERS of West London which, again in it's own right, to this day is currently not only the biggest swing dance related page on Facebook, but also the biggest Lindy Hop related page on Facebook.

You can LIKE the Facebook page by clicking the icon below. 

Having what I knew to be a great story, I then contacted every multinational company I could think of for financial backing/sponsorship and approached a further 30 local and National high-street names, all of whom were interested about becoming involved, provided it got to T.V.

After taking the advice of a well-established stand-up comedian (whom I'd also written a part for), I then set about filming my own trailer… with absolutely no previous experience.

The next two months were spent sourcing the cameras, locations, professional video editing software,  3D computer animation software, and scouring the amdram groups of West London when, at long last, I found a small group of actors who were willing to help.

Having rented a village hall for 6 weeks, I then filmed and directed, what is essentially the first half of the first episode (again, in a lot of pain.)  

You can view the trailer by clicking the image below.

I then also designed and commissioned a range of merchandise to coincide with the series, ranging from T shirts, mugs and name badges to shoe bags and car stickers.

Again, you can view the merchandise by clicking on the image below. 

Despite having such a lucrative product on my hands and having done so much of the ground work myself, the majority of agents or production companies simply wouldn't reply, again for no given reason, and so in one last ditch attempt to at least get my story out there… I released it as a self-published paperback and kindle download. 

As I'd expected, it was well received, becoming an Amazon #1 bestseller within 2 days of release before not only being declared as Amazon's 3rd highest ranking comedy, but also their highest ranking title on dance, worldwide.

For the next 4 months, it became Amazon's highest ranking title for Lindy hop and their highest ranking title for West Coast Swing in 5 countries simultaneously, 

Most importantly for me, it eventually became not only Amazon's highest ranking title for DWTS on their U.S. site DURING the DWTS finale, but also the highest ranking title for Strictly Come Dancing DURING the Strictly Come Dancing final of 2015, before becoming a #1 bestseller in the U.S. making it an International bestseller. 

One year later, with Strictly Come Dancing declaring their most popular final ever (with audience figures of 13.1 million viewers, up from 11.9 million the previous year,) SWINGERS of West London became Amazon's highest ranked title on Strictly Come Dancing during the Strictly Come Dancing final of 2016, for the second year.  

When I released SWINGERS of West London, Part 2, The Chase Is On, in May 2015, it superseded all expectations, by becoming not only a #1 bestseller in the UK on it's first day of release, but days later also become a #1 bestseller in Australia, making it an international bestseller in it's own right. 

This sudden interest then also created a resurgence of SWINGERS of West London Part 1 in Australia, making part 1 the bestseller in Australia the following day, thereby also making that an international bestseller in it's own right.  

One month after the DWTS finale of 2016, all three titles became the top three titles on Amazon for Strictly Come Dancing.

One year later, with Stictly Come Dancing announcing their best series to date (with an average weekly audience of 11 million viewers, up from 10.9 million the year before) Swingers of West London became Amazon's highest ranking title for Strictly Come Dancing, as well as their highest ranked title on dance and now, for the first time, their 2nd highest ranked title on comedy. 

To this day, all three books are rated 5 stars.

To find out why it became such a massive, overnight success, check out each edition in the series by clicking the images below.