Danny Brocklehurst
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| Danny Brocklehurst | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 1971 Hyde, Manchester, UK |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, Journalist |
Danny Brocklehurst (born 1971, Hyde, Cheshire, England, U.K.) is a BAFTA and International Emmy winning English screenwriter. Brocklehurst worked as a journalist for several years (as a freelancer for The Guardian, City Life and Manchester Evening News and senior feature writer for The Big Issue) before becoming a full-time screenwriter.
He has written television drama series including The Driver, Ordinary Lies, Clocking Off, Shameless and The Street; International Emmy winner Accused, comedy-drama Linda Green; serials Exile, The Stretford Wives and Sorted. He has been nominated for both BAFTA and Royal Television Society writing awards.
Contents
Television work
Brocklehurst wrote several episodes of the BAFTA award winning series Clocking Off, as well as the acclaimed two part BBC film The Stretford Wives, which was shot by director Peter Webber.
With Shameless, Brocklehurst won a BAFTA for series one, co-wrote series two with Paul Abbott and became lead writer on series three. He left prior to the fourth series.
His self-created series, Sorted, the BBC's high profile postal drama, starring Hugo Speer, achieved 5 million viewers in the summer of 2006 and was the only drama that year to grow week on week in the ratings. Despite this; and the largely good critical response; the then controller Jane Tranter did not recommission the show.
In 2007, Brocklehurst wrote a film about the Fathers4Justice campaign for producers Harbour Pictures. Whilst, his Company Pictures produced four-part ITV drama, Talk To Me, starring Max Beesley, Laura Fraser, Adrian Bower, Kate Ashfield and Emma Pierson.
He has written episodes of both Jimmy McGovern's The Street and his new crime drama Accused for BBC One.
In 2011 he wrote a 3 part BBC 1 drama, Exile, “a tale of prodigal redemption” which becomes an investigative crime story. It starred John Simm and Jim Broadbent. It was critically acclaimed. It received an average of 5.5 million viewers and an Audience Appreciation score of 90%.
In 2011 it was announced that Danny would write a new HBO drama, Dirty, with Andrea Arnold attached to direct.[1]
In August 2013, Charlotte Moore, the BBC1 controller announced a new drama, Ordinary Lies, written by Brocklehurst.
The Driver, starring David Morrissey was announced in January 2014, a three part drama about a taxi driver who takes a job driving for a criminal. Shown on for BBC One it co-starred Ian Hart, Claudie Blakely, and Colm Meaney. It was co-created by Jim Poyser and made by Red Productions and Highfield Pictures. In January 2015, US network Showtime announced they were developing a remake of the drama.
HBO announced a project called A Teacher, in February 2014 which will be co-written by Brocklehurst and Hannah Fidell, and executive produced by Mark Duplass. It is a drama about a teacher/student relationship, based on the film of the same name.
Theatre
In theatre he has written three award winning plays, My Eight Times Table, Nobody and Loaded (transferred to Radio Four), as well being story adviser and book co-writer of the hit West End (and national touring) musical Never Forget.
His new play Casual Ties has been commissioned for production in 2014. It is a dissection of modern relationships.
Film
In film, he has adapted the Whitbread nominee Buddha Da (as Jimmy Buddha); written a book adaptation for Working Title Films and is currently working on a screen adaptation of Shaun Ryder's autobiography Twisting My Melon.
Miscellaneous
He was featured in the writers' section of the Broadcast Magazine Hot 100 2007.
He has cited Tony Marchant, Jimmy McGovern and Alan Bleasdale as his writing inspirations. In a Creative Times feature in 2010, he wrote that Our Friends in the North was his favourite drama of all time.
In 2011 he has been nominated for TWO Writers Guild Awards for Exile and Accused. http://www.writersguild.org.uk/news-a-features/general/203-guild-awards-2011-shortlists-announced
In 2013 Danny wrote the track Ring with dance band Mint Royale, featuring the vocals of Willem Dafoe.
Career in brief:
- Clocking Off, series 2-4 (BAFTA nomination), episodes starring Sophie Okonedo, Ricky Tomlinson and Pam Ferris.
- Linda Green, episodes starring Liza Tarbuck and Jane Horrocks.
- The Stretford Wives (directed by Peter Webber), starring Fay Ripley.
- Shameless, series 1-3 (BAFTA winner), starring James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff.
- Sorted (directed by Iain B Macdonald), starring Hugo Speer.
- Talk to Me (directed by Emmy winner Dearbhla Walsh), starring Max Beesley and Aaron Johnson.
- The Street (one episode, with Jimmy McGovern)
- Shameless USA (Showtime - John Wells), Episodes starring William H Macy and Joan Cusack
- Life After Marriage (abc network, with Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes.
- Accused - director Richard Laxton, starring Andy Serkis and Jodie Whittacker
- Exile - (BAFTA nomination) director John Alexander, starring John Simm and Jim Broadbent and Timothy West.
- Accused 2 - (BAFTA nomination, best Mini-series, International Emmy nomination Best Drama Series) director David Blair, starring Robert Sheehan, Sheridan Smith and John Bishop.
- The Driver - starring David Morrissey, Ian Hart, and Colm Meaney.
- Ordinary Lies starring Mackenzie Crook, Max Beasley, Michelle Keegan, Sally Lindsay and Jo Joyner.
Awards
BAFTA
BAFTA TV Award
| Year | Series | Category | Result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Clocking Off | Best Writer | Nominated | ||||
| 2002 | Shameless | Best Series | Won | 2002 | Clocking Off | Best Drama Series | Nominated |
| 2006 | Shameless | Best Writer | Nominated | ||||
| 2011 | "Exile" | Writer, actor | Nominated |
Royal Television Society
RTS Television Award
| Year | Series | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Clocking Off | Best Writer | Nominated |
| 2002 | Shameless | Best Series | Won |
| 2006 | Shameless | Best Writer | Nominated |
|2015 |The Driver |Best Serial |Nominated |- |}
Radio
Danny has written extensively for radio. His police series Stone is in its third series. It stars Hugo Speer as Detective Inspector John Stone and every episode features a morally complex crime. It has been described as 'gritty' (The Guardian), 'hard hitting' (The Times) and 'realistic in a way radio drama rarely is' (The Observer).
Danny has written a play about Thatcher's Mutually Assured Destruction policy in the 1980s, The End of The World, a thriller about a man who seems to have ceased to exist Nobody, an Australian set examination of greed, Loaded and a single drama about an eighty-year-old woman who admits to a series of brutal murders, Mary Shane.
He has appeared as a regular commentator on Radio 4 and 5Live.
External links
- Guardian article, Are You Sitting Uncomfortably? http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/dec/19/mondaymediasection2
- Guardian article, The decade that TV forgot.
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/jun/06/broadcasting.tvandradio
- International Emmy's.
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15833023
References
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