MEDIA KIT

THE SNAKE by PHILIP GLADWIN

CONTENTS

BIOGRAPHY

• Headshots Philip Gladwin

• Biography (different lengths)

• How to contact Philip

THE SNAKE

• Cover

• Description (70 words)

• Description (400 words)

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

• For General Fiction Readers

• For Crime Fiction Bloggers & Podcasters

• For Christian Bloggers and Podcasters

  • Theological Themes

  • Content Note For Christian Readers

HEADSHOTS

‘THE SNAKE’ BOOK DESCRIPTION

Short (<70 words)

The Snake releases late Spring 2026 and is the first novel about the Metropolitan Police's elite SO19 armed response unit. It’s set in London of 2001, and follows a young woman officer who joins SO19 after a family tragedy. Gritty and realistic, it builds to an almost unbearable climax when a deranged marine sniper goes on a killing spree. It’s based on first-hand research alongside serving SO19 officers

Long (c. 400 words)

London, 2001. Kate Dover is a young police officer whose family tragedy has left her heart broken and her future uncertain. When she's accepted into SO19—the Metropolitan Police's elite armed response unit—she finds purpose in speed, power, and adrenaline. There are fast cars. Serious weaponry. Unpredictable threats. The job is disciplined, aggressive, and highly addictive.

For Kate, SO19 offers more than just adrenaline. It's a chance to serve London, to run toward danger while everyone else runs away. And perhaps—though she won't admit it—she sees a chance for revenge.

But when a deranged marine sniper begins a spree-killing campaign across the city, Kate and the team face a threat unlike anything they've seen before. As the body count rises and the pressure mounts, The Snake builds to an almost unbearable climax that tests everything Kate thought she knew about courage, sacrifice, and duty. What does grief and guilt produce under ultimate pressure? In one final showdown she finds out the surprising answer.

As far as we know, THE SNAKE is the only novel out there that focuses on the elite SO19 unit.

Philip Gladwin's debut crime novel is grounded in first-hand research from the 1990s when he spent days riding with SO19 officers. He witnessed first-hand their vast, calm courage, their immense sense of duty, and what happens when things go wrong.

He saw officers prepared to sacrifice their lives for strangers, and he understood that, deep down, that sacrifice could only be driven by love.

Gladwin brings 35 years of storytelling experience to this novel. He has 60+ broadcast TV credits including The Bill, Casualty, Trial & Retribution, and New Tricks. He was series script editor on the BAFTA-nominated, Writers Guild Award-winning The Dumping Ground. He was commissioned to write scripts by Lynda La Plante, Russell T Davies, and Tony Garnett. His episodes of The Bill aired to audiences of 8-12 million viewers on ITV primetime.

In March 2020, age 57, he walked away from BBC and ITV success to write crime novels.

Why? Because he wanted to write stories that last 50 years, not three weeks. Stories lit from within that point to reveal something beyond themselves. Stories about courage, sacrifice, and love—the things that matter.

The Snake is gritty, fast-paced, and all-too-human. It's crime fiction that runs deeper.

It’s a book for readers who sense there is so much more to be had.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

For General Fiction Readers

1. ‘Where did The Snake come from?’

2. ‘What is the world of the story?’

3. ‘What made you set it in the past?’

4. ‘Who are the main characters?’

5. ‘Where do you get your ideas?’

6. ‘How do you make sure this is accurate?’

7. ‘What are the themes?’

8. ‘Why will you love this book?’

For Crime Fiction Bloggers & Podcasters

1. ‘You walked away from 25 years of television drama in March 2020 - what was the moment you knew you had to leave?’

2. ‘The Snake is the first novel about the Metropolitan Police's SO19 armed response unit. What happened during your research with the police that convinced you this story had to be told?’

3. ‘After writing for The Bill, Casualty, and Trial & Retribution, what did those decades in TV teach you about creating

4. ‘Police officers run toward danger while everyone else runs away. What drives that kind of courage, and why does it matter for crime fiction right now?’

5. ‘You've said TV drama now produces "slick entertainment that glances off anything that matters." What happens to a story when it goes through 10-15 drafts with multiple script editors, producers, and executives?’

6. ‘You describe books that "point to something beyond themselves" - books that are "lit from within." What does that actually mean in practice when you're writing a gritty armed police thriller?’

7. You have said you're writing for "the 25 people" who will truly get it, not millions of casual readers. After having TV audiences in the millions, why choose that?

For Christian Bloggers & Podcasters

1. ‘You became a Christian in your mid-fifties after 30+ years as a professional writer. How did that conversion come abut, and how did it change what you felt called to write?’

2. ‘You’d been working at the top of British TV drama, commissioned by legends, working on major shows, but you describe feeling a growing emptiness. What was God teaching you through that success?’

3. ‘You reference C.S. Lewis's ghost who painted, not because he loved painting, but because he was in love with the light that came from God. How does that shape your approach to crime fiction?’

4. ‘The Snake isn't published as "Christian fiction" - it's mainstream crime fiction. Why that choice, and how do you think about writing for a secular audience as a Christian?’

5. ‘Crime fiction typically demands justice - the bad guy gets punished. But you talk about having "compassion for people who go wrong as well as for their victims." How does Christian understanding of grace and redemption shape crime narratives?’

6. ‘You describe the moment you "fell in love with the police" during your SO19 ride-along - seeing officers willing to sacrifice their lives for strangers who might hate them. That's a deeply Christian paradox. What were you actually seeing?’

7. ‘You've said your goal is to "write because I feel the light of love, and to help others experience that light." How do you do that in gritty crime fiction without it feeling preachy or manipulative?’

8. ‘You mention a ten-year mission to write crime novels where "God's love becomes inescapable - not through preaching, but through engaging, truthful stories." What does success look like for that mission?’

9. You spent decades in the "very venal TV industry" before becoming a Christian. What would you say to Christian creatives trying to maintain faith while working in secular entertainment?

Theological Themes

• Conversion & Calling

• Mid-life transformation

• Success as an idol

• Reordering toward Kingdom priorities

• Incarnational Art

• Light shining in darkness without announcing itself

• Entertainment as vehicle for transcendence

• Craft excellence as worship

• Grace & Redemption

• Tension between justice and mercy

• Compassion for perpetrators and victims

• Complexity vs. sentimentality

• Sacrificial Love

• Police courage as Christ-image

• Spiritual oppression and possession

• John 15:13 embodied in secular heroism (Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.)

• Loving enemies (Matthew 5:44)(But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you)

• Long-term legacy vs. short-term metrics

• Stories as evangelistic encounter

• Measuring success by transformed lives

Content Note for Christian Readers

‘The Snake’ is mainstream crime fiction that explores violence, tragedy, and moral complexity. It's written from a position of love and points toward the light, but it doesn't avoid darkness. There are mature themes, some graphic violence, and there is (occasional) bad language.