DRAMA
After graduating from the RCA in 1991, director Jim Doyle and I were commissioned to write a film for the BBC's SCREEN TWO. That script - based on a true story about two amateur thieves in Barrow in Furness who ended up being hunted by the British and Russian security forces - was the start of my drama writing career.
Shortly after that, I started on ITV's long-running drama THE BILL. I worked through its development from a 30-minute to a one-hour slot; from single-episode to multi-episode story strands; from pure police procedural to character-driven serial.
After a couple of years on the show, exec producer Paul Marquess asked me to join the lead writing team, which meant a closer involvement in long-term storylining, character development and the overall direction of the series - as well as writing landmark episodes for some of the best-loved characters.
THE BILL: POND LIFE
Full episode available here
THE BILL: THE END OF DES TAVINER
Full episode available here
I interspersed my time on The Bill with writing episodes of BBC1's CASUALTY. Both shows were hugely popular, and excellent vehicles for telling stories of marginalised people: immigrants, the elderly, victims and perpetrators of crime, and...Spice Girls tribute bands.
CASUALTY: GIRL POWER
In 2006 I wrote 'STAN', the story that become the second episode of THE STREET, Jimmy McGovern's BBC1 drama series about the residents of a Manchester street. It was the first episode of the show not fully written by McGovern.
The series won the BAFTA, RTS and International Emmy Awards for best drama. The episode also won Jim Broadbent the International Emmy for best actor for his portrayal of Stan.
In 2008, BBC1 created its first daytime drama in many years. Based on its successful studio-based reality series about missing persons, MISSING ran for two series. It starred Pauline Quirk as the detective sergeant in charge of a missing persons unit. I was a lead writer/storyliner as well as writing several episodes. Creating successful multi-strand drama on a comparatively tiny budget was a huge challenge, but the series proved popular with audiences, and launched daytime drama as a regular part of BBC1's schedule.
MISSING s1 ep 2
