Irish Examiner – 12th December, 2015

The earliest version of Withnail And I is to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s on December 15.

Writer Bruce Robinson’s short novel, which he described as “70% autobiographical”, was written in 1969-70.

The author was living in a Camden Town house in which much of the debauched action takes place.

Paul McGann and Richard E Grant in 1987 film Withnail And I (Handmade Films)

The draft offered for sale includes extensive revisions in Bruce’s hand, along with a single leaf torn from a magazine which features a photograph of the author and his flatmates outside their Camden house in the late 1960s.

The 1987 film, which starred Paul McGann and Richard E Grant, had a protracted journey to the big screen.

In the 1980s, a copy of the unpublished novel reached executive producer Mody Schreiber.

Withnail And I draft (Sotheby’s/Bruce Robinson)

He commissioned Bruce to adapt it for the screen and The Beatles’ George Harrison read the script on a transatlantic crossing.

His company, Handmade Films, formed to fund Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, ended up producing the comedy which was directed by its writer.

Withnail And I has become a much-loved and oft-quoted favourite.

Set at the end of the 1960s, it tells the tale of two out-of-work actors, Withnail (African-born Richard) and ‘I’ (Doctor Who star, Paul), who exist on a diet of booze, drugs and cigarettes in their revolting Camden flat.

Bruce’s housemates – including Vivian MacKerrell, who was famously the basis for Withnail, and David Dundas, who wrote the film’s music – were still drama students at the nearby Central School of Speech and Drama at the time they were living together.

The draft for Withnail And I is estimated at between £4,000-6,000 and is offered as part of Sotheby’s sale of English Literature, History, Children’s Books and Illustrations.