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Danny Brocklehurst

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Danny Brocklehurst
BornJune 1971 (age 53)
Hyde, Cheshire, England
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, playwright, journalist

Danny Brocklehurst (born June 1971 in Hyde, Cheshire) is an English screenwriter and playwright.[1] He has won both BAFTA and Royal Television Society writing awards. He was featured in the writers' section of the Broadcast magazine Hot 100 2007. His Sky comedy Brassic has the highest audience appreciation score of any UK comedy.

In 2013 he also wrote the track "Ring" with dance band Mint Royale, featuring the vocals of Willem Dafoe.

Early career

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.[2] He 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.

Writing

Television work

Brocklehurst wrote several episodes of the BAFTA award-winning series Clocking Off, as well as the 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 series Sorted, a BBC postal drama starring Hugo Speer, aired in 2006. 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 three-part BBC drama, Exile, starring John Simm and Jim Broadbent. It received an average of 5.5 million viewers and an Audience Appreciation score of 90%.

In 2011 it was announced that Brocklehurst would write a new HBO drama, Dirty, with Andrea Arnold attached to direct.[3] This project is now being developed with Sharon Horgan and Amazon. In August 2013, BBC1 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.[4] Shown on 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 would be co-written by Brocklehurst and Hannah Fidell, and executive produced by Mark Duplass. The show, a drama about a teacher/student relationship, based on the film of the same name, didn't get made by HBO; it has been picked up by FX. In 2017 Netflix made Safe starring Michael C. Hall, written by Brocklehurst and Harlan Coben.[5][6]

Come Home, a three-part BBC drama, aired in April 2018, starring Christopher Eccleston and Paula Malcomson. The Stranger, also co-written with Coben, debuted on Netflix in January 2020, starring Richard Armitage, Stephen Rea and Jennifer Saunders.[7] The first series of Brassic premiered on Sky in 2019 and has been renewed for two additional series. It is Sky's most successful comedy since 2012.

His Netflix series Stay Close was the highest rated UK series of 2022.

In May 2022, the BBC and STAN commissioned a new series created by Brocklehurst,Ten Pound Poms, a drama about the British citizens who migrated to Australia after the Second World War, with filming commencing in Australia shortly after.

Film

In film, he adapted the Whitbread nominee Buddha Da (as Jimmy Buddha); and wrote The Railway Children Return for Studio Canal, a sequel to the 1970 film, The Railway Children, itself based on the E. Nesbit novel.[8]

Theatre

Brocklehurst 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 West End (and national touring) musical Never Forget.[9][10] His play Casual Ties was a Royal Exchange hit in 2014. It is a dissection of modern relationships.

Radio

Brocklehurst has written extensively for radio. His police series Stone is in its ninth 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).

He wrote 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.

Brocklehurst wrote the podcast Ecstasy: The Battle OF Rave that features David Morrissey, Monica Dolan, Ian Hart, Meera Syal and Ade Edmondson. It is half drama, half documentary.[11]

Filmography

Production Episodes Broadcaster
Clocking Off series 2–4, 5 episodes (2001-2003) BBC One
Linda Green 3 episodes (2001-2002) BBC One
The Stretford Wives TV Movie (2002) BBC One
Shameless series 1–3 , 8 episodes (2004–2006) Channel 4
Sorted 4 episodes (2006)
Talk to Me Creator (2007) ITV
The Street 1 episode (2007) BBC One
Shameless 1 episode (2011) Showtime
Life After Marriage ABC
Accused 2 episodes (2010-2012) BBC One
Exile 3 episodes (2011) BBC One
The Driver Creator, writer (2014)
  • RTS best drama nomination.
 BBC One
Ordinary Lies Creator, writer (2015-2016) BBC One
The Five Writer (2016) Sky One/Netflix
In the Dark Creator, writer (2017) BBC One
Safe Creator, writer (2018) Netflix
Come Home Creator, writer (2018)
  • Winner of RTS best writer and best drama awards.
 BBC One
Brassic Creator, writer (2019-)
  • BAFTA nominated 2020
 Sky One
The Stranger Creator, writer (2020) Netflix
A Teacher Writer and executive producer. FX
Stay Close Creator, head writer (2021) Netflix
No Return Mini series (2022) ITV
Ten Pound Poms Creator (2023-)[12] BBC One/STAN

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
2020 Brassic Writer Nominated


In 2011 he was nominated for three Writers Guild Awards for Exile and Accused and Brassic, for which he won.[13]

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
2018 Come Home Writer, best drama winner
2020 Brassic Writer nominated

References

  1. ^ "From Tameside College to Netflix - how Danny Brocklehurst conquered television". 10 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Danny Brocklehurst".
  3. ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (1 June 2011). "HBO Getting Dirty with Danny Brocklehurst". Variety. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  4. ^ Lazarus, Susanna (10 January 2014). "David Morrissey to star in new BBC1 drama The Driver". Radio Times. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  5. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (11 July 2017). "Michael C Hall To Play It 'Safe' In Netflix, Canal+ Drama From Harlan Coben". Deadline. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  6. ^ Clarke, Stewart (11 July 2017). "Netflix, Canal+ Order Harlan Coben Series With 'Dexter' Star Michael C. Hall". Variety. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  7. ^ White, Peter (28 January 2019). "Richard Armitage To Star In Netflix Thriller 'The Stranger' With Harlan Coben & 'Safe' Team". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 17 November 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  8. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (6 May 2021). "'The Railway Children,' All-Time U.K. Children's Classic, Gets Sequel From Studiocanal". Variety. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  9. ^ "News page from official website, mentioning "six date" tour".
  10. ^ "Muisicals: Never Forget, Opera House, Manchester". the Guardian. 25 August 2007.
  11. ^ "Ecstasy: The Battle of Rave review – top one, nice one, sorted". TheGuardian.com. 19 September 2020.
  12. ^ "BBC One announces Ten Pound Poms, a new original drama series from Danny Brocklehurst". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Writers' Guild Awards shortlists announced". www.writersguild.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
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