Can you tell us about Domino?

Domino Day is about a very powerful witch, who doesn't understand the true extent of her powers. All she knows is she needs to feed off the energy of others and she uses dating apps to find her victims. There is a coven of witches based in Manchester that see her as a threat and want to stop her before she hurts someone.

Why did you decide to set the series in Manchester?

The series was originally set in London but the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ are really keen to represent other regions and to film and set dramas all across the UK. I’ve always thought Manchester was just such a cool city - a little bit of old and new, especially in the fashion sense. The swagger is just different to London so I thought it would be unique to set a witch show here.

What makes the series unique?

Domino Day is unique as it's about witches but looks at modern relationships as well. It's a very sexy show, blending relationship drama with the supernatural, which I think young people will love.

What are the key themes?

It’s very sexy and dark but also the main character Domino is finding herself throughout the series, which I think a lot of young people can relate to. So the show is also about self-acceptance as well as how you connect to people in the modern world, especially when there are apps everywhere.

What did you want to explore and develop in this story?

I really wanted to explore sisterhood. Obviously, there are guys in the show but I see the series as a real display of sisterhood, as you've got Domino and this coven of witches. For me, the three main witches are Sammie, Kat and Domino so it's a real display of Black Girl Magic on screen.

What made you write it as a genre?

I just love the supernatural genre. The Americans have done it so well with the likes of True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, etc. And I just thought...we need our own show in the UK!

Where did you find inspiration for this story?

A lot of my own dating stories are in there and Domino's journey is a lot like the journey I've gone on in finding myself as a writer, finding my own voice and learning how to own my own power and magic.

What in the show do you think audiences will most relate to?

I think everyone will relate to the dating and the dating apps. I think they'll also relate to those core themes and the feeling of life being a little bit out of control and trying to regain it.

Where does the story begin? Who do we meet in the beginning?

We first meet Domino in the bathroom of a bar. Her nose is bleeding and we have no idea why, but she seems to know the reason for it. She cleans herself up, goes back into the bar and we see her waiting for a date. Whilst she's there, she starts chatting to the barman, played by Percelle Ascott. There's an obvious natural connection between them and it's the sort of perfect real life meeting which is so rare in the dating world, but then her actual date arrives. We can immediately tell he's not right and there doesn't seem to be any chemistry between them but Domino is desperate to go back to his house and when she does, we find out why...she needs to feed.

From that point, how does Domino's character develop?

Domino is trying to understand why she needs to feed. She's only known one other witch in her life, her ex-boyfriend, so she's trying to find out what kind of witch she is whilst this coven of witches are circling her trying to find that out as well. So she goes on this journey, but is also trying to figure out how to be a good person with the immense power she possesses, compared to the other witches.

You touched on the female relationships in the series, can you tell us more about the coven?

Yes, each coven member goes through their own journey with her. Sammie, who is an aura witch, is the first to see how much Domino is struggling. She’s very empathetic towards her and is the first of them to really make contact. Whereas Kat, who's the coven leader, is a bit more guarded. Jules is the newbie to the coven who initially doesn’t really care about being a part of it but goes on her own journey to seeing the coven as a sisterhood. And Geri is just quite angsty. She really dislikes Jules’ indifference at the start but then they sort of come together at the end.

Which scene is your favourite?

The first time Domino feeds off a date. It's one of the scenes that was the most clear in my mind when I wrote the script as I really wanted to do this "rug pull" moment where the show is suddenly introduced as supernatural - whereas beforehand it could've been mistaken for just a normal show about relationships. I really wanted the audience to fear for Domino in this setting and be worried that the guy might take advantage of her but then for it to become a really powerful moment for her.

Can you give us an overview of the cast that you've assembled? Siena is of course BAFTA-nominated…

I knew Domino was going to be a tricky character for someone to play, especially in the first couple of episodes where she isn't connected to the coven yet. We needed someone that could really get inside her head and feel what she feels. Siena has this really great way of portraying vulnerability, but also strength in just one look. It's hard to describe but there's just something in her eyes that when I watched her casting tape I just said "that's my Domino" and everyone was on the same page. We were lucky we got her so early on.

And what about the coven?

The coven is amazing because they're all friends. Babirye is just Sammie in a way, they’re very warm and caring. Molly is more serious than Jules, the character she plays. Jules just doesn't care but Molly works really hard and you can see that in all her takes. For Alisha, I really wanted a strong black woman as the coven leader. She goes on her own journey with her attachment to magic which sort of echoes Domino's in a way, and that's how she connects to Domino. And Geri, like Jules, is sort of the light relief as it's a very dark show and sometimes we needed some light moments. And then the guys, Percelle and Sam are both very good looking men with different qualities. They show themselves as different potential love matches for Domino so it's interesting to see that love triangle play out.

How's the collaboration been with the other writers and director?

There are two other writers on Domino Day, and , who are doing an episode each. It's been great to do the writers' room with them and that whole process. I know writers' rooms are more of an American thing but I'm a very collaborative person. I always want to hear ideas that will make my ideas better.

If you could describe Domino Day in one sentence what would it be?

Domino Day is dark, sexy and deep - it has a lot to say about the world.

What was your pathway to becoming a professional screenwriter? When did you first even think that was a possibility and what did you do about it?

I always knew I wanted to get into visual storytelling. I went to university to study media with a focus in directing, but then came across screenwriting. It was a career path I’d never even considered before and I completely changed my trajectory. I studied it further after graduating — doing an MA in Screenwriting at LCC. It allowed me to hone my craft and build a portfolio of scripts I could then send out on spec. I then spent a few years sending out scripts, trying to get an agent and/or an option, but it was years later when a spec script of mine got into the hands of , who were looking for writers for their upcoming show . Getting that first credit really kickstarted my professional writing career — I was able to get my agent and then more credits followed until I finally got my first original show greenlit.

Before that point were you writing TV spec' scripts or were you writing for the theatre?

Yes, I was writing lots and lots of spec scripts. Lots of genre in there too, which the industry doesn’t do a lot of. I had done a couple of short plays soon after graduating at local theatres like , but I always knew I wanted to primarily be a TV writer writing High End TV.

What's the most useful advice you've received on your writing journey?

To not focus on the competition in the industry and trust that your own voice is unique. With lots of writers and producers out there, I think there’s a danger to always look at what others’ are doing. But everyone’s journey and path is different and their own. You do need resilience for the moments of rejection, but your passion for the stories you’re telling — stories you need to tell — will always carry you through.

Watch Domino Day on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer from Wednesday 31st January 2024

Firstly you may have noticed that we have a new name and a new look! From this week we’ll be known as ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writers, losing the ‘Room’ suffix after 23 years of loyal service. Our rebranding is part of a bigger refresh across the whole of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ which began back in October 2021 with core services including News, Sport and iPlayer. This is now being rolled out across the organisation. We saw this as an opportunity to revisit our name, which has tended to cause some confusion in recent years, as the  has become more familiar in this country. (There had also been an intractable problem relating to an apostrophe, but it’s better not to dwell on that … )

Regardless of what we are called, our core purpose - to find, develop and champion the best scriptwriting talent from across the UK and Republic of Ireland - remains the same.

With that in mind, a reminder that our next Open Call script submission window is open from next week (Tuesday 7th November) until noon on Tuesday 5th December. This is our main annual opportunity, open to all writers aged 18 or over and based in the UK or Republic of Ireland. Full details are here. The outcome for writers who are successful in the Open Call is the possibility of a place in one of two of our development groups, Voices which includes around 70 writers each year, is run from our six hubs across the UK, and lasts for six months or Scripted which lasts for 12 months and includes the creation of a new ‘spec’ script with the support of a professional Script Editor.

If you’re looking for advice for your Open Call submission, then watch our webinar from earlier this week .

Even if you don’t gain a place in one of our groups this time (and most of the writers in the groups have entered our Open Call several times before they gain a place) you still get on our radar, which can include invitations to events or opportunities. The most recent of these, ‘In Conversation with Jesse Armstrong’ took place last Friday in the Radio Theatre in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Broadcasting House in London. Jesse is the brilliant co-creator (with Sam Bain) of shows including Peep Show and Fresh Meat and creator of the BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe winning Succession. The attendees included members of our groups and writers who reached the full-read stage of our last Open Call. They were enthralled as Jesse shared pearls of wisdom in response to questions posed by script-guru John Yorke and members of the audience. We also took the opportunity to interview Jesse for our website, so keep an eye out for that, coming soon.

Finally some news relating to our regionally-specific work.

Last week saw the release of the sixth series of The Break – our returning strand of dramatic monologues by writers who are new to broadcast. Watch all four episodes on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer. For this series all the writers are from the West Midlands region and include writers who took part in our Coventry development group as part of Coventry City of Culture back in 2021. Hear from them about the experience of writing their episodes on our blog.

In the meantime, keep watching great new drama from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, including the second series of Time, which began last Sunday on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One and is available on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer. You can read and watch interviews with writers Jimmy McGovern and Helen Black (who gained her first scriptwriting break through one of our opportunities) over on our blog.

We’re looking forward to reading your work and will be back with our next update around Christmas.

The Executive Producers for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom are Simon Nelson and Usman Mullan. The Executive Producers for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios are Mike Hobson and Nichol Hoye.

Simon Nelson, Development Executive at the Writersroom, shared his thoughts on Series 6 of The Break:

"We’re delighted to release our latest series of The Break representing some amazing writing talent from the West Midlands. Having set up a Voices group in Coventry and holding several workshops in the wider West Midlands, we invited local writers to pitch a short film idea for this series. In partnership with our colleagues in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios – and across several very intensive filming days – we created these films which we hope reflect the voice and spirit of the area."

Watch Series 6 of The Break on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Please enjoy watching their dramas and find out more about their experiences below.

BTEC Britney by Tal Davies

"This is my first commission, and I absolutely underestimated how eye-opening it would be. It’s easy to get stuck in your own little bubble when it’s just your written project, but seeing it come to life on screen was invaluable.

The process becomes so collaborative from the moment your script goes into development – the episode is no longer just your baby, and the piece will evolve in ways you didn’t expect, but will be so much richer for it! I also learned a great deal from a practical standpoint when I attended the shoot. There were times in my script where I thought I was keeping it simple, such as the Balti house scenes, but I quickly discovered that the inclusion of food and several small stage directions make it much more complicated to film from a continuity perspective! These are factors that I wouldn’t have even thought of, had I not seen first-hand how much work goes into every small detail when filming.

This whole experience has had a really positive influence on my writing, and I’ve gained so much more awareness and fresh perspective to bring to future projects thanks to this opportunity."

Cricket Test by Omar Khan

"I’d watched The Break since season 1 and knew it was an incredible opportunity for new writers to have their worked screened on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three. I pitched the idea of “The Cricket Test” which was inspired by the racism case going on at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

I was amazed to have been selected as I knew it was highly competitive. The drafting process was quick and all happened within a month. I was grateful to Simon Nelson for the time taken to get my script right and then a few weeks later we were filming in Birmingham. I was invited to the shoot and thrilled to see my work come to life – my original character and my original story.

I’m delighted to know that I have a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three credit and a solid example of my work to show the industry. Schemes like this are so worthwhile as they give you real world experience of being able to take the project from idea to a finished episode all within a few months. I have learned massively from this process and would advise any other writers to apply when the next opportunity comes."

Loved by Laura Maloney

"The predominant challenge of writing a short monologue is condensing the drama without losing any dramatic tension or heart.

I started writing LOVED after seeing the competition posted on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom and thankfully, Cassie came quite easily. She poured out into a very (too) long, fifteen page monologue. As a middle class, state educated British woman, I wanted Cassie’s vulnerability and femaleness to reflect the conflicts that I and many friends have experienced. Cassie’s under pressure; a victim of societal expectations. The initial pitch was overloaded with themes and contemporary issues, but I hadn’t yet managed to communicate the story I wanted to tell. However, I understand the producers, Usman Mullan and Simon Nelson, read the monologue, and found Cassie’s voice intriguing.

With the help of a workshop led by Usman and a few 1-2-1 sessions with Simon, I honed the pitch, focussing on Cassie’s singular conflict – why do I really want a baby? For the first draft this made the writing a lot simpler, and the Cassie that we see on screen is very much a stripped-down version of my initial idea. She’s better for it. Cassie feels very personal to me so, as with all script work, getting from script to screen is a process of letting go, but I know she’s in safe hands."

Wolverine Woman by Katie Arnstein

"I was over the moon to learn I'd been chosen to write for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three's The Break earlier this year. What followed, of course, moments after celebrating, was the crushing realisation that I would have to write something for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three's The Break.

The piece I ended up writing, Wolverine Woman, is the first thing that I have written for television and so the pressure was on. Here is what I learnt from this incredible process which I am incredibly grateful for.

1. If you keep coming back to an idea, it is probably the one you want to explore, so trust in it.
   
   
2. Try to solve all of the potential problems in your piece at the pitch stage of writing. If you, like me, would rather put off difficult things until later, you're giving yourself less time to find a suitable solution and probably be stressed.
   
   
3. If you've got five minutes to tell a story, try and use every second of those five minutes to tell it.
   
   
4. Make the script as clear as possible in terms of your vision for it and then trust that the director (in my case the superb Clare Anyiam-Osigwe) and their team will realise it.

I feel like Wolverine Woman is everything I want to say in five minutes and I have learnt so much from this process."

Find out more about The Break and watch the films from Series 6 now on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Catch up on all previous episodes of The Break on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

For this sixth series, all the writers are from the West Midlands region. The five successful writers are: Sâmir Bhamra, Katie Arnstein, Laura Maloney, Tal Davies and Omar Khan. The two directors are Tenisha White and Clare Anyiam-Osigwe. Amongst the writers selected this year, following an open call out on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom website, are three who were part of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom’s Coventry Voices development group, an initiative which ran as part of Coventry City of Culture in 2021 to develop their writing skills and secure opportunities across the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳’s scripted output.

The series will be produced for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three by ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios Continuing Drama Productions. The Executive Producers for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom are Simon Nelson and Usman Mullan. The Executive Producers for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios are Mike Hobson and Nichol Hoye.

Jess Loveland, Head of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom says: “We’re delighted that production of series six of our micro short series, The Break, has taken place in Birmingham this month. It has been a privilege to work with these incredible new storytellers from the West Midlands and bring their stories to the screen. Our production partner, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios, has designed an innovative production model for the shorts that sees crew members stepping up roles on set. The shorts will therefore provide meaningful career development opportunities for both above and below the line talent. We can’t wait to share these dynamic and original short films with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer audiences later in the year.”

Mike Hobson, Executive Producer, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios Continuing Drama Productions says: “It has been a great pleasure working with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom once again. Nurturing new talent is what we do best in Birmingham and we have been thrilled to work with two, exciting, new local directors who have stamped their mark on these brilliant, creative scripts. I am incredibly proud of the production teams who have worked tirelessly to bring these scripts to life and am looking forward to audiences immersing themselves in these diverse and thought-provoking stories.“

About the writers and their films:

Sâmir Bhamra

Make U Amazing

A late night no-strings hook up blooms into rich romance for a trans-identifying bridal Make-Up Artist. But when she is arrested, she is forced to confront her experiences to discover what makes her amazing. 

Sâmir says "I love to look into our history and behaviours to find and tell tomorrow’s stories today. At the heart of it, I am interested in how relationships make up and break up. The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom process has pushed me to think in a different voice (from my past works) to suit a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three audience. In the process, Make U Amazing became a personal challenge to address intimate observations and unspoken truths so that all communities can have a more authentic tomorrow.”

Sâmir Bhamra is a Kenyan born, Midlands based writer, director, costume designer and producer of Indian and Pakistani heritage. He is the artistic director of the theatre production company Phizzical and the creative director of the UK Asian Film Festival.   

Bhamra developed his skills whilst balancing caring responsibilities for ten years through training courses from Sundance Institute, the National Theatre, London Film Academy, Stage Directors UK Opera course and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom. He is influenced by stories and art forms from Indian cinema, classical literature and unspoken truths discovered and co-created with our community.  

His theatre credits include the musicals Bombay Superstar, Stardust, Bring on the Bollywood and Precious Bazaar. He is the director of the award-winning short musical film Mad About the Boy and the producer of the upcoming digital series Seaview made during the pandemic as part of Coventry UK City of Culture.

Katie Arnstein

Wolverine Woman

Bec is a young woman travelling home alone. Or is she?...

Katie says: “I have written Wolverine Woman because I am scared, angry and exhausted in equal measure. The Femicide Census has revealed that “One woman in the UK is killed every three days by a man”. According to ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News the Met said, “a total of 1,633 cases of alleged sexual offences or domestic violence involving 1,071 officers and other staff were being reviewed from the last 10 years”. Wolverine Woman has been written in response to these statistics by one of many women who just want to get home safely.”

Katie is a multi-award-winning writer and performer originally from the West Midlands. Her theatre work includes the storytelling trilogy It’s a Girl! which consists of three plays Bicycles and Fish, Sexy Lamp and Sticky Door, all of which have toured the UK.  

In 2022, Katie was made an Associate Artist at the Pleasance. Her work has won Show of the Week at VAULT Festival twice, Pick of Pleasance at VAULT Festival, an Offie Commendation, was one of 8 pieces shortlisted for the 2020 Popcorn Award, the 2021 Evening Standard’s Future of Theatre Award and has been included in The Guardian’s Top 15 Edinburgh Shows Now Touring. 

Her most recent show, The Long Run, has received critical acclaim and an OFFIE Award nomination for Best Performance Piece.

Laura Maloney

Loved

Cassie has never known what it feels like to be unconditionally loved and she thinks having a baby will fix that – but does her boyfriend, Faz, think the same?

Laura says: “I was inspired to write Loved by my experience of growing up in a provincial city, where family planning can start young, and history repeats itself generation after generation. Cassie’s desire to have a baby is complex and driven by a deep need to feel needed. I wanted to explore the moment a vulnerable young woman makes that life changing decision.”

Laura trained as an actress at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, before completing an MA in Writing for Script and Screen at Falmouth University. Laura’s first stage play, a verbatim piece about homelessness, was produced for Brighton Fringe and then adapted for radio. Last year, Laura completed the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ shadow scheme to write for ongoing drama Doctors. Laura’s first episode was broadcast earlier this year. Laura also works collaboratively with her writing partner, Jasmine Jagger, on adaptations for TV and film, including a serialised adaptation of The Mill on the Floss for TV, and a modernised adaptation of The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen for film. With her other stage work, Laura has been shortlisted for The Royal Court writers groups and The Old Vic professional development course. 

Tal Davies

BTEC Britney

Sophie is home from Uni and is absolutely fine, honest. Well, she was until things began to spiral in a very triggering local Balti house, anyway.

Tal says: “Although my piece deals with themes of grief, strained relationships and mental health, I wanted there to be moments of comedy too. A lot of people, myself included, use gallows humour to get through the difficult times, and the feelings of loss that come with bereavement are never straightforward; I wanted the full, complicated spectrum of emotions that come with grief to be present in this short. I also wanted to challenge the cliché that your uni days are always the best time of your life, and if they aren't then there's something wrong with you. Freshers week isn't always the overwhelmingly fun experience it's made out to be, and it's ok if you feel this way!”

Tal Davies is an emerging writer and stand-up comedian based in Birmingham. Her first script, Waffnacky, was longlisted for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom Comedy Script Room in 2020, and she was also selected for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Coventry Voices development programme the following year. As a comedian she's performed at festivals and comedy clubs across the UK, was crowned Best Breakthrough Act at the Midlands Comedy Awards, named One To Watch by Funny Women, and reached the semi-finals of British Comedian of the Year. 

Omar Khan

Cricket Test

Is Zayn a traitor, playing for the England cricket team, when he has supported India all his life?

Omar says: “I’ve always been interested in why so many British Asians will support the India and Pakistan cricket teams over England. Inspired by the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal, this piece sets out to investigate why that might be.” 

Omar has written for TV, theatre, short films and radio. His short film The Plunge was longlisted for a BAFTA after screening at over 60 international film festivals. He has written for the C³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ shows, Princess Mirror-Belle, The Dumping Ground and Biff and Chip, as well as a podcast for Malory Towers. 

About the directors

Tenisha White

Tenisha White is an award-winning actor, producer and director from Birmingham with over eight years of working in film and creative industries. Currently a BAFTA Crew member, Tenisha has produced and worked on a variety of high end, commercial and independent projects including cinematically released films and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ narrative content. 

Through the launch of her own production company, Neash Films, Tenisha has written, produced and starred in a number of productions, showcasing her first love of acting in roles ranging from comedy to hard hitting drama.  All of Tenisha’s main work has gone on to festival recognition, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ screenings, and international audiences. 

Clare Anyiam-Osigwe

Clare is an award-winning film director and screenwriter based in the Midlands who has directed Hollyoaks in Summer ’22. She recently shadowed at EastEnders for multi-cam experience. Clare is the lead script juror and co-chair of the BAFTA, BIFA, AMAA accredited British Urban Film Festival (BUFF). Her directorial debut film No Shade secured an international theatrical release.

How did you get the idea for Red Rose?

Michael: We’ve always carried in our minds Bolton. We were actually in a meeting for Hollyoaks and when they said ‘Have you got anything else?’ we said ‘Oh yeah, we’ve got something like Scream, it’s set in Bolton, Scream and The Ring. Paul just looked at me and was like ‘Yeah, and it’s teenagers’. I think it was always in us, it just became real all of a sudden.

I think it’s zeitgeist as well. There were elements of discussions going on about rogue apps on phones and for us it just felt right to unite the two.

Often writers run away from technology in the horror genre because it’s about ‘Oh there’s no signal, great, start the film. Oh the phone’s destroyed great, we don’t have to deal with that’. But we were ‘No, let’s run headlong into this instead’.

Also in horror when people are like ‘But you could just call someone’ it’s like ‘Sorry, but in my experience of technology it never works when you want it to’.

We wanted to highlight how easily technology can intercept things because it’s already doing that, so for us it seemed that as soon as we started saying it – you know when you’re a storyteller you’re like ‘Oh, this can actually work’.

We consulted an expert who works on technology – a top-brain coder – and asked ‘Is this real, could this happen?’ and they were like ‘Yeah’ and explained why.

What does the Horror genre give to you as storytellers?

Paul: It gives you the opportunity to showcase the best and worst of humanity and allow you to explore them in a safe way that feels removed from reality but actually informs on reality so much. It should teach us elements about ourselves. The best horror teaches you stuff about humanity. It allows you to highlight the difficulties of whatever your themes are. For us, the effect of technology on society. Each generation has its main things that it has to navigate and at the moment, similarly to when anything new arrives, it takes a few generations for people to catch and become aware and indeed to know how to navigate it. We’re still working out how to deal with the internet, with the truth, with how humans are more connected now than ever before but also feel more disconnected.

Michael: And generational damage and having to deal with that. Horror is so interesting when you put the younger generation in because they don’t deserve it. They don’t deserve to be in those scenarios – but something older, or something before their time or something that is just steps ahead of them in life can usually become a force to turn their world into darkness.

Everything evolves, including stories in the way that they are told. Twenty years ago the genre of horror would be explicitly jump scares but it’s not just that now.

What are some of the influences on Red Rose?

Michael: I always come back to Scream. Kevin Williamson’s screenplay was so smart. He was prepared to redefine genre and tackle it head on and make it real. He brought in realism and made it self-aware. There are so many lessons that we’ve learnt from that.

Paul: We also learnt so much from Mike Flanagan and working with him (on The Haunting of Bly Manor) about how you can blend different elements together to create a more compelling story. Everything that we love has a bit of everything in it, so we wanted to use a bit of comedy, a bit of drama, a bit of horror, a bit of nonsense at points because that is our lives – that is life, reality is all of the genres, we don’t want to play in just one. So even though we’re under the umbrella of horror, the horror feels more horrific when you’ve just felt reality.

Why was it so important for you that the show is set in Bolton?

Michael: I think any hometown that anyone has grown up in, if it’s done its job, will become a character in their life.  It’s because it’s got this beautiful combination of the moors and the town, it’s got real voices and real people.

Michael and Paul took ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three to some of the most important spots in Bolton to share their love of their Northern hometown and talk about the importance of opportunities for young, working-class people.

Read more and take a tour with them on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three website

Watch Red Rose available on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer now

Well here’s a thing.

Just over four years ago, I’d never written a script at all. I was a happy novelist churning out my books who thought there was something mystical and magical about writing for telly - definitely not for someone like me. Until one day I did write a script for a bit of fun. Galaxy, a coming of age story about a girl in care in the late eighties who discovers sex, drugs and acid house. I might have taken 'write what you know' a bit too literally. I showed it to a mate who said it was ‘interesting’ and that I should look out for competitions on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom. And there as luck would have it was one being run by new indie in conjunction with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom.

I didn’t lie and say I’d written on everything from Casualty to Corrie, I just didn’t let on I hadn’t written for TV before, figuring that my script wouldn’t make it through the first round anyway. I did think about fessing up when it got long listed. And again when it got short listed. And when I was invited along with a handful of others to go to Media City in Salford and pitch my show in person, I knew I was on borrowed time. I planned a big speech about being Very Very Sorry. Sadly though, I went out on a bender for my cousin’s birthday the weekend before and ended up deaf from the sound system, limping (you’re never too old to dance on a table but the trouble comes when you fall off it) and full of a stinking cold. My apology, when I gave it, was less grand than intended but fortunately everyone saw the funny side.

A month or so later, Laura Conway, head of development at Kudos North called me to say that along with two other writers I’d only gone and bloody won.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom blog on the announcement of the 2018 Kudos North Writers' Awards winners.

Her big piece of advice was not to let anyone try to dilute my voice. Oh and get a good agent. She recommended Frances Arnold, who I signed with on the spot recognising someone who would be able to help me with my career and save me from myself. From there, Frances arranged for me to meet a lot of producers. And I mean a lot. I smiled. I drank tea. I told the story of the deaf, limping, sneezing pitch at Media City. I suppose I could have tried to be more sleek, more ‘professional’ but decided that I’d struggle to pull that off in the long run. I’m a loud, sweary, full on, working class northerner, whatcha gonna do?

One of those meetings was with and at and yeah, their cabinet full of silver ware was a bit daunting, but they were not. They asked me if I’d like to create a legal show with them. Something that married my legal experiences (I used to be a solicitor) and their background in factual drama. The end result was an idea called Defender and it was absolutely banging. Funny, authentic, a real warts and all take on the Criminal Justice System with a story of the week ripped from the headlines. Of course no one picked it up. But Aysha was pleased with what I did and said she was putting together another factual drama with director and would I like to meet him. And that’s when over a brew in St Pancras Station he told me the years of research he and the team had been doing about fulfilment centres. I told him about family members who worked in them and what I thought of the way they operated. I also went on (and on and on) about the lack of working class characters and stories on telly generally. An hour later I was on the team.

A few months later, the film was commissioned by and we had a tight deadline to get the script ready, with filming scheduled for mid 2020, barring disaster.

Hello Covid 19.

Well 2020 came and went, with each new attempt at production thwarted and the already small pot of money we had, now having to cover a huge raft of Covid protocols. Not gonna lie, I was beginning to think it wouldn’t happen, until Aysha mailed me to say we were shooting in October 2021. And that’s how I found myself in Cardiff watching and say some lines I wrote about timing workers when they go to the bogs (trust me they somehow make it both funny and horrifying).

So ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom. Great resource. Great people. Great opportunities.

Hope you like the film (and if anyone wants to pick up Defender – it’s still banging).

Watch Life and Death in the Warehouse on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three at 9pm on Monday 7th March and on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer.

When Fiona Campbell (Controller of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three) said she wanted the next series of The Break to be from disabled talent we were delighted. We told our Writers’ Access Group (³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom's development group for writers with disabilities), and called out to agents and leading disability Arts organisations. We asked for ideas for short films that might fit the brief.

The writers who sent the best ideas were invited to attend a one day workshop based around The Break in particular, and short-form storytelling in general.

We then developed some ideas further, working with the production company () who were going to make the five films. In the end, we all jointly settled on the five stories that went on to form Series 5 of The Break.

Three of the final five writers are from our first Writers' Access Group, and the writers of the other two were invited to join our current group, as were some of the others who got quite far through the process.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios went on to interview disabled directors, and started the casting process for disabled performers.

Filming was held up due to Covid, and when we did eventually film in November we took stringent precautions. We could not risk any infections on the shoot, and managed to achieve that goal.

Socially distanced post-production was successfully achieved, with editors working remotely and sending though files for us to view. Some films went through various versions as we worked to tell the story in the clearest and most effective way. The final steps were in a post-production facility in Soho, with much hand sanitiser and mask-wearing, and limiting the number of people in each room at a time.

Everyone involved worked tirelessly on these films. and we all love the results – I hope viewers enjoy them too!

Today is Anne Edyvean’s last day as Head of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom after six years. We’d like to thank her for her unstinting work supporting new writing and writers at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ from across the whole of the UK and wish her all the best for her future endeavours.

Watch Series 5 of The Break now on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

For the first time all 25 episodes of The Break are now available to watch on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Find out more about the writers of The Break series 5

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios Drama Production have announced the five writers who have penned the fifth series of The Break. The bold, short form drama series, now in its fifth year, is a collaboration between ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios and aims to showcase the best original, contemporary stories that reflect modern life in the UK. The short films that make up the series will be available to watch on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three.

The five successful writers are: William Barrington, Angela Clarke, Annalisa Dinnella, Rob Kinsman and Lettie Precious. Each of the writers have disabilities and their experiences are reflected in the stories in all their diversity and humour. Amongst the writers selected this year are three who attended the Writers Access Group, an initiative founded in 2018 that offers talented writers with disabilities the chance to develop their writing skills and secure opportunities across the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳’s scripted output. 

The series will be produced for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three by ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios Drama Production. The Executive Producer for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom is Anne Edyvean and for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three is Ayela Butt. The Executive Producers for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios are Caroline Levy and Esther Springer.

Anne Edyvean, Head of Writersroom said:
“The aim of The Break is to offer writers from under-represented groups a chance to tell an original, surprising and contemporary story for a young audience. And I am absolutely delighted that our fifth series of The Break is written by five talented writers whose scripts are engaging, funny, sad and full of story and heart. Three of the writers have come from our Writers’ Access Group for writers with disabilities, while two have been offered places on our next Writers Access Group.”

Esther Springer, Executive Producer, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios Drama Production said:
“I’m proud to be working with these talented storytellers. It’s a privilege to be given this opportunity to experience their worlds which are funny, touching and uniquely relevant. I hope this is the first of many opportunities to work with this group of writers and to tell their stories from their point of view”.

About the Writers and their Films: 

William Barrington - Losing It

A university student with Cerebral Palsy has always looked down on people who sleep around, but only because he hasn’t had the chance. His first one-night stand makes him question his views. 

London based William graduated from the University of Winchester in 2018 where he made a number of local award winning short films, and in 2019 he received a masters from Royal Holloway, University of London in Screenwriting. 

William says: “Growing up with Cerebral Palsy, I often let others speak for me simply because it was easier. However, as I became increasingly interested in making films, I found it was a great way to express my point of view and a BA in Film Production and MA in screenwriting really helped me improve my writing ability. Although I have written several short films, I am thrilled that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ have given me a chance to share my work with a larger audience. And, now that I’ve found my voice, I plan to never shut up - so long as actors are willing to perform it of course.”

Angela Clarke - WEED

WEED is about 16-year-old tearaway Liam, who is on the run from ‘the Feds’. Back on the London block he grew up on, Liam is determined to finish his own personal mission.

Angela Clarke is bestselling author of the Social Media Murders (HarperCollins), including Follow Me, Watch Me and Trust Me, and critically acclaimed On My Life (Hachette). Follow Me was named Amazon’s Rising Star Debut of the Month, long listed for the CWA’s Dagger in the Library, and short listed for the Good Reader Page Turner Award. Angela has appeared on CBS Reality’s Written In Blood, has written and performed on stage for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Edinburgh Festival (³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer), and has hosted ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ 3 Counties Radio show Tales From Your Life. A sufferer of EDS III, Angela is passionate about bringing marginalised voices into creative industries. She is a RSA Fellow.

Annalisa Dinnella - Rude

Would you rather be seen as rude or disabled? That’s the dilemma faced by 18-year-old May as she tries and fails to make her first Fresher’s Week friend.

Annalisa enjoyed a varied career in TV documentary-making before focussing on writing. She has written two afternoon plays for Radio 4 and her first play The Man Who Fell to Earth was nominated for an Imison Award in 2016. Last year, she wrote and presented a show on Radio 4 called Annalisa is Awkward. She is currently working on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One Drama Doctors, as well as developing a television drama series and a thriller. Annalisa has 5% vision.

Rob Kinsman - BFF

BFF, is about a teenage girl who has become distant from her friends following a car accident that had left her as a wheelchair user, and has developed an attachment with an ‘augmented reality’ pet monster on her phone. Turnip is a flatulent goblin but he’s also Katie Cartwright’s only friend. She’s in trouble.

Rob is based in East Anglia and studied the Creative Writing MA at UEA. He’s an established writer on Doctors with over 60 credits on the show including the hour-long 2000th special episode. Other credits include Father Brown (including the episode The Man in the Shadows which won the RTS Midlands awards in 2015), Shakespeare and Hathaway, Malory Towers and Holby City.

In 2011 Rob was paralysed from the chest down by a rare illness and became a wheelchair user. In his spare time he volunteers with the spinal-cord-injury charity Back Up, teaching wheelchair skills to people with recent injuries.

Lettie Precious - Tone Deaf

Young, clumsy, sweet, and queer, Toni wants to ask the girl of her dreams to end of year 11 prom and will stop at nothing to win her affections. Only question is, can she do it without killing her?

Lettie is a poet, playwright and author from Sheffield and now based in London. They won the Royal Court and Kudos Fellowship in 2019. Their short play The Grey Area was presented as part of Queer Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre in 2019 and their first full length play, This Is Us, is currently in development with theatre company Graeae. Their previous work has been showcased at Soho Theatre, Oval Playhouse, The Arcola and Theatre Royal Stratford East.

About ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios, a global content company with British creativity at its heart, is a commercial subsidiary of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Group. Able to take an idea seamlessly from thought to screen, it spans content financing, development, production, sales, branded services, and ancillaries from both its own productions and programmes and formats made by high-quality UK independents. Award-winning British programmes made by the business are internationally recognised across a broad range of genres and specialisms, including factual, drama, entertainment and comedy. ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios has offices in 22 markets globally, including six production bases in the UK and production bases and partnerships in a further nine countries around the world. The company, which makes around 2,500 hours of content a year, is a champion for British creativity around the world and a committed partner for the UK’s independent sector. Created in April 2018 by the merger of two existing commercial subsidiaries, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Worldwide and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios, the company has revenue of around £1.4bn. In the year to March 2019, it returned £243m to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Group, complementing the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳’s licence fee and enhancing programmes for UK audiences.

You’re a writing partnership - have you always written together, how did that come about?

We originally met at university. Being Irish lads in an English University, you kind of gravitate towards each other. We actually ran the University Ireland Society together, which was great fun. We made some student theatre together - Michael acting and Oisín directing. Then when we graduated, we formed back in Belfast and Oisín directed Mick in a number of plays. We didn’t start writing together until we wrote the initial stage play for My Left Nut, and we’ve continued writing ever since.

And how did you decide to write the My Left Nut stage play?

It came about through a programme called , run by The Irish Theatre Institute, The Dublin Fringe Festival and Fishamble: The New Play Company. The idea is to take actors who have never written anything before through the process of writing their own one-person show. The deadline for applying was coming up and we met up in a pub to talk about ideas. Michael had a big list - alien abductions, the cultural history of the sandwich - but Oisín told him they were all terrible. Michael then began to reminisce about the time he had a giant testicle, and Oisín turned to him and said “write that play”. Michael had always wanted to write something about his father’s death as well - so combining the two seemed like a good way of exploring masculinity. We were accepted onto the programme and wrote the play together, Michael acting and Oisín directing.

How did you find that process? Writing that together?

It worked well! It wasn’t without its difficulties, but it felt like a nice extension of our previous working relationship. As we knew Michael would be performing it and Oisín directing, Michael would get up and perform and try things out as we were writing the script, while Oisín would make suggestions as we went along. It was all quite organic.

So the play toured Ireland and went to Edinburgh - how did you come to develop it for television?

As part of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom Belfast Voices development group, we were invited to attend workshops and found out about a number of opportunities, including an initiative with , run by OBE (Band of Gold, Playing the Field, Fat Friends, The Syndicate, In the Club). Following the success of Overshadowed by Eva O’Connor and Hildegard Ryan, they were looking for stories that would really resonate with young people. At this stage we had already premiered My Left Nut at the Dublin Fringe and begun our Irish tour, so we applied to the programme with an idea of adapting the play. We got through the first round, and Michael actually ended up doing a skype interview from the dressing room of the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire an hour before he had to go onstage and perform the play! The interview seemed to go well, but I remember Rollem asked for more examples of our writing… and I don’t think we really had anything other than My Left Nut. So we cobbled together a few various bits and pieces - scenes from half-written plays and short films - and thankfully Rollem still trusted us, or trusted the story, and agreed to work with us. This meant a 6 month development programme working under the mentorship of Kay Mellor as we developed our scripts and put together pitch documents.

And how did you find that?

It was a bit of an eye opener! We didn’t even own any paid-for script writing software at the time. A lot of our first drafts barely had any stage directions in them at all - so there were a lot of practical things like that which we learnt. The biggest learning curve was the episodic nature of the whole thing. With a stage play you have a fully captive audience - they can’t leave half way through (well… they can, but you’d like to hope they won’t). The biggest thing we struggled with was structuring it in such a way that people would finish one episode and immediately want to watch the next one. So we did have to rework the story a bit to get in those ‘hooks’ and ‘cliffhangers’.

How about dealing with script notes?

Script notes are part of the writing process. You have to remember that producers and commissioners will have a different perspective and are seeking content that is representative, and that they want to put their own stamp on. Taking notes is difficult, but we viewed it as someone experienced having a question or a concern. We would leave it 24 hours before tackling them, and tried to find a solution to any concerns. We received reams of notes and completed countless drafts, sometimes coming back to things we had in our very first draft. It was about trial and error, to create the right tone and style for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three.

Are there many other differences from the play?

We’ve updated it to bring it into the modern day - the play is set when Mick was a teenager (early 2000s). The only thing we’ve really lost are some silly jokes about Bebo and MSN messenger - but we gain a lot more and it certainly feels more relevant. The big thing we added was an extra storyline of Mick’s girlfriend, Rachael. This was in an early draft of the play, but had to be cut for time reasons - so it was really nice to be able to thread that back in, when we had the ability to extend and develop the story. It’s also different in that the play is Michael performing his own story - so it’s very personal. Now that we had a young actor playing Mick, and other actors being cast as his family and friends, we had to step back from the real life story and understand that the TV show was different - it was ‘based on a true story’. It’s not quite as true to life as the play was, as we had to think about what was best for the story in TV format. But the heart and the message of the story is still absolutely true - which is what was important.

And what is the heart of the story?

It’s about negotiating life years after the death of a parent. It’s not about the immediate grief on their death, but what happens years later. The main relationship is a mother and son trying to deal with the difficulties of a young man growing up without a father to help. It also looks at male teenage friendships and how, under all the bravado, there can be a real tenderness and care. It’s also about balls.

And then it was commissioned - how was that process?

Exhilarating. Lots of meetings and possibilities and conversations - which was all great - but you’re always still thinking “this is probably not going to happen”. Then, suddenly, it does happen and everything moves so quickly. We still can’t believe it’s happening, and probably won’t really feel like it’s happened until we can actually .

Were you involved in casting at all?

We weren’t, no. It was cast predominantly by Carla Stronge who is just amazing, and we knew she’d find brilliant people. What was lovely is that Michael got the chance to meet with (who plays him) and (playing his mother) to talk them through what actually happened in real life - but also telling them to bring their own spin to it. It’s not a documentary at the end of the day. Sinead also met with Michael’s mother and they had a good long chat about everything.

How was it writing about your friend’s experience, Oisín?

It was daunting. I understood that the basis of is some very personal and sad things that happened to Michael’s family - the passing of his father and his mother’s husband, and then the strain of dealing with a medical issue. I was humbled that Michael trusted me to co-write the play. I tried my best to be respectful of the subject matter, but also to bring some distance to the writing process - something I had done frequently in working as a documentary director. When it came to the TV series, we both understood we were creating something new, based on real experience but to be developed to create more drama. We knew we would be working with a bigger team, and would thus have less control, so we endeavoured to create the tightest scripts we could. We were delighted when we heard that (Vera, Skins, Desperate Romantics) would be directing.

And how does your mother feel about it all, Michael?

It took her a while to come round to it all. When I first read her the play she didn’t speak to me for a week. Mainly because the play had the stage direction “Mick masturbates” and she was absolutely mortified. But she eventually came round when she read it again a few times. In a way the piece is a thank you to her for always being there for me. But she’s very pleased with it all now, and how the play was received, and she absolutely loves Sinead - which is great.

What do you hope people take away from the piece?

If there’s any young lads watching - check your balls! Don’t be afraid to talk about it to friends or family. It might seem embarrassing, but it takes strength to talk about your issues. We hope people have a good laugh at it and find the drama compelling. We shot it all in Belfast with a local crew which was great for us as well. We hope people enjoy seeing Belfast on screen in a unique way. 

These five contemporary films about life in Northern Ireland gave our brilliant and dedicated emerging writers (Jan Carson, Karis Halsall, Louise Nesbitt, Seamus Collins and Emily DeDakis) the chance to tell stories and tackle vital real life issues affecting young people here and beyond.

Developing these heartfelt, universal tales that could only come from here was a treat, and helping our writers to paint their picture of a contemporary and relevant Northern Ireland was a welcome and refreshing change. We are among the best storytellers in the world and we have more than one story to tell, hopefully these ambitious, arresting and unique pieces can break through and show that to as wide an audience as possible.

Thanks so much for the writers and their dedication and invention, to ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Studios and Artis Pictures for putting so much into making them, to NI Screen for their constant support and to ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳3 and Drama Commissioning for the opportunity.

Keith Martin – Producer, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom/ Executive Producer, The BREAK

This year's projects shone out with their empowering and unexpected points of view on provocative or sensitive subjects. As a modern showcase for Northern Irish talent and fresh Northern Irish stories, these films introduce audiences to unforgettable characters and contemporary stories, with universal themes. We strove hard to subvert and inspire and dare to dare. All the teams rose to the many challenges of making such ambitious stories on a low budget and the economies and focus to tell what was most vital in just six minutes. We all learned a huge amount along the way, on screen and off. The result we hope will be wonderfully unexpected to audiences, films that are revelatory in content and character. We congratulate all the teams for all their hard work and talents, which we had the privilege to support.

Kate Croft - Executive Producer, Artis Pictures

Karis Halsall - Writer: Clean 

The subject matter in CLEAN is currently a very divisive topic in Northern Ireland. It’s also something I have direct personal experience of, so working on it brought both private and public challenges. That said, my first take away from this would be - write the thing that scares you. It can be incredibly cathartic and rewarding.

Right from the offset I knew I didn’t want another maudlin, stereotypical depiction of a ‘victim'. It was really important therefore that I showcased my central character Kerry’s humour, despite what’s happened to her. Being a ‘victim’ doesn’t define her. Her character does. Kerry to me personifies the whip-smart wit, warm nature, wicked humour and resilience that define the people of Northern Ireland.

Coming from a theatre background, writing a five minute piece for TV was a steep learning curve. Thanks to Keith and my brilliant script editor Hamish, I quickly learnt that less is definitely more. TV holds your audience in a confined, intimate, close up space. You don’t need to use lyrical writing that’ll impact people sat at the back of the Gods.  It was a hard lesson in brevity!

The team at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom were so incredibly supportive throughout. I always felt safe, heard and championed, which was vital when making work about something so personal.  They were always fighting for me and my story and I am so proud of what we created together. So often in the media, survivors are presented as nameless victims. It’s easy to dismiss a nameless victim and I’ve been surprised by the flippancy with how people have spoken about the issue. I hope in some small way, Kerry might make people re-evaluate their behaviour.

Watch CLEAN on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Louise Nesbitt - Writer: Hot Mess

HOT MESS is a comedy about dating while mentally ill. After reading that about how almost half of all young people in NI have experienced mental health issues it felt important to tell a story that wasn’t about being cured but about finding joy in living. I wanted to show a character with mental illness who was funny and likeable and loved, the antithesis of what we normally see on screen.

For me the script development was the most important part of the process. Finding out how much better the development can make a script has changed the way I write. I’ve found that now I’m considering so many more factors from the very first draft and asking myself essential questions about every aspect of a script. Overall it’s made my writing much more robust and reasoned allowing me to assess what’s really important about a story.

From being on set surrounded by people with copies of the script that I had written to seeing my work on screen, the scale of it was completely surreal.

I am so grateful for the support of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom in trusting me to say something that I felt was necessary while also letting me really go all in with my Legally Blonde jokes.

Watch HOT MESS on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Emily DeDakis - Writer: Last Night in Belfast

You rarely think about how it began once you’ve seen how it ends.

This tiny love story set in my neighbourhood, North Belfast, started as pure homesickness for 24-hour diners in Washington, D.C. Then realising that the only all-night places in Belfast are staffed by one person behind bullet-proof glass. The oddity of someone else shopping for you in the middle of the night. Questions about desire — wanting what’s on the other side of the window. What happens when you have no control over whether you go or stay? Early in the drafts, I described it to one of the producers as ‘a cross between St Elmo’s Fire and a deportation letter my friend got from the Home Office’. Unrequited love can be for a place too.

This is my first go at TV, and I learned tonnes. I had amazing support from Hamish, Keith & Anna at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom and PJ, Kate & Steven the producers, not to mention the folks at the all-night petrol station next to my flat. Storytelling in this new-to-me way meant switching out all of my usual writing muscles (I’m mostly a prose person). Pitches and treatments became beat sheets and eventually scripts. Multiple drafts of all of the above. So many iterations of even something so small. Part of what I now love about writing TV are the many versions of this that exist for me as the writer: I remember the rejected titles, the things that were of course impossible to pull off in the shoot (songs, police vans, dogs, a sweeping shot of the Crumlin Road courthouse as Vivi sprints by), and what was added with Aidan’s and the whole creative team’s minds in the mix: the vintage sneakers, the headphones, the graffiti, and new emotional depth. I can enjoy how Vivi’s written lines lived and changed shape in Ana’s amazing voice. (It was her first time working in English. Total hero.) What I first imagined as kinda silly and cinematic became more polished, sweeter and darker — and yet also exactly what it started as, a tiny love story set in my adopted neighbourhood.

I’m really fortunate to be part of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom development group in NI, Belfast Voices, which is where I heard about this opportunity. There are so many deserving voices here; please listen to these here in The Break series, and seek out more. If you’re a NI writer, start something, get it out there and stick with it. Through all the many drafts.

Watch LAST NIGHT IN BELFAST on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Jan Carson - Writer: Wings

The Break was my first experience of writing for television. I’ve written a number of pieces for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 4 and Radio 3 and love radio so much I’d never really considered screen writing as an option.

I’ve always heard that writing for television is incredibly competitive and difficult to break into and so I’m incredibly grateful to the team behind The Break for giving me a really fantastic -and I think- authentic experience of what it’s like to work with producers, directors, actors and all the various creatives who worked together to bring my script to life.

The Break was my first experience of writing for television. I’ve written a number of pieces for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 4 and Radio 3 and love radio so much I’d never really considered screen writing as an option.

I’ve always heard that writing for television is incredibly competitive and difficult to break into and so I’m incredibly grateful to the team behind The Break for giving me a really fantastic -and I think- authentic experience of what it’s like to work with producers, directors, actors and all the various creatives who worked together to bring my script to life.

I gained an incredible amount of insight into the world of screen writing through The Break. It was practical and hands on and there was always a team of more-experienced writers on hand to support me throughout the process. I learnt how to write more concisely, how to bring immediacy into my writing, how to take critique and direction, and above all, how to create within a team. I’m primarily a novelist and normally work by myself or with a single editor.

The opportunity to work alongside a large production team was a really invaluable creative experience for me and definitely something which I’d like to repeat in the future.

Watch WINGS on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Seamus Collins - Writer: Bin Bagged

I have always said* that my three favourite types of people are underdogs (like Frodo Baggins), people who aren’t afraid to stand up to authority (like Muhammad Ali) and people who swear a lot (like Gordon Ramsey.) Therefore, it’s unsurprising that my first idea for The Break series 4 was about a tiny, hairy-footed boxer/political activist who travelled around Middle Earth improving restaurants (while swearing a lot.)

Thankfully, my next idea was better. Chloe – a young girl in foster care who makes a huge mistake at school and desperately tries to get away with it (while swearing a lot.)

I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to work with and learn from the many wonderful script editors, producers and directors involved in this project. They all gave me such great advice and help (while swearing a lot.) As Chloe became more and more developed, I realised that I have a fourth favourite kind of person – people who are lost and in need of help.

This is what I wanted to capture with Bin Bagged. I hope I have done that (while swearing a lot.)

*I have literally never said this.

Watch BIN BAGGED on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

WATCH ALL 5 EPISODES ON ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ IPLAYER

Find out more about Series 1, Series 2 & Series 3 of The Break

You've published novels for many years (including the Booker prize-nominated Atlantic). What was different about the origins and publication of the Villanelle novellas?

The previous books I'd written (for Hutchinson, Atlantic and Puffin) were all published in the conventional, hard-copy manner. In 2014 I was approached, as were a number of more or less established writers, by an editor at Amazon, who were about to launch their Kindle Singles programme. The appeal of this idea to me as an author was that work would go online, and be available for sale as soon as it was completed.

I wrote on this basis, each around 15,000 words. I thought, right from the start, that the stories would make a good TV series, and deliberately shaped the stories as 'episodes'. It was in this form that the stories and characters were optioned by a London-based production company (). It was felt that the working title of the project should be based on Eve rather than Villanelle, and I came up with "Killing Eve", which would become the actual series title.

When commissioned the first series, several publishers wanted to collect the four Villanelle titles in a single volume, and publish them in hard copy. There was an auction, won by John Murray, and in spring 2018 the first volume of a projected Killing Eve trilogy was published under the title .

Would you describe your fiction writing as your ‘passion’ writing alongside ‘work’ writing? How do you divide your time between them or know which to prioritise?

I have always moved backwards and forwards between books and journalism. Each medium imposes its own constraints and disciplines. I've never prioritised one over the other.

Did you write the Villanelle stories with the idea of adaptation for television or film in the back of your mind? 

I've always written that way, and I think there's a degree to which contemporary literary sensibilities have been shaped by TV and film structure.

How did you decide on Phoebe Waller-Bridge to be the lead writer for the adaptations? What was it about her voice that made her the right person?

She was one of several writers suggested to me by , who runs Sid Gentle Films. When I saw Fleabag, then a stage play rather than the series it later became, I liked Phoebe's fearlessness and her oblique take on life. Her writing completely avoided any recognisable and hackneyed conventions which I really didn’t want to see applied to my characters and my work.

Have you ever written scripts yourself or would you consider this now?

I would consider it if it was absolutely the right project, but right now I have at least two novels to write!

Is it unusual for the writer of the original source book to be so involved in the scripting of the adaptation and if so why do you think it worked for Killing Eve? 

Writing the Villanelle stories involved a lot of research, plotting, and background knowledge. I spent a long time thinking about, and creating, Eve and Villanelle, and the details of their lives and their backstories. I've reported from Russia, for example, and I've written about the security services and have a working knowledge of that world and know some of those people. This is not stuff Phoebe knew about, and we talked about all of it at length - firstly just the two of us and then, in a more structured way, with the production team. The idea was never that Phoebe should reproduce the novellas as TV scripts - TV closely tracking fiction rarely works, the two forms are just too different in their natures and requirements - but that she should make Eve and Villanelle and their universe her own, and put her own unmistakeable imprint on them.

You must be delighted with the end result, with the actors who are involved and the reaction?

Of course, and the brilliant casting is a huge part of the success of the series.

What can you tell us about Series Two which we know is in progress? Is that an original story or based on your new novel which has just come out? Are you still so directly involved or is there a point in the process where the novel writer has to step away?

Series Two is completing filming now. We are into the last episodes. The series has been scripted by , and it's terrific. It's from an original story. My second novel Killing Eve: No Tomorrow has just come out, so Emerald and I were writing, in a way, in parallel. Same Eve and Villanelle, same universe, different adventures. It's not so much a question of my stepping away, as the author. I continue in my role as the person who created those characters, and Emerald and the producers continue in theirs as the people who take my idea and run with it, taking it to new places. It's a developing process. You'll be hearing more from all of us.

Watch the complete first series of Killing Eve on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Developing and Producing the latest series of The Break in Scotland gave us the perfect opportunity to tell contemporary stories not only set here but about life here. All five of our selected writers (, , , and ) have worked tirelessly to create their own unique, thought provoking and compelling monologue that looks at love in all its various shapes and forms. I have to give special thanks to and the entire cast and crew who were brilliant throughout the process and were instrumental in bringing these fantastic monologues to life. We hope you enjoy them.

Angela Galvin, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom, Scotland

There's nothing more exciting than working with passionate new writers who have such original voices. Huge thanks to the three very talented directors (, , ) across the shorts who have done a superb job of realising the vision of the writers from page to screen. I am so proud to have been involved with such talented individuals and I’m sure their innovative story telling will be a hit with audiences.

Gavin Smith, Producer

Meet the 5 writers and watch their episodes

You Really Got Me Going started after reading an article about male loneliness in Britain. I’d always thought of loneliness as a disease that happens later in life, not to 20-year olds. The more I began to research it, the more I realised this wasn’t just afflicting Britain, this is a worldwide epidemic.

From day one of creating The Break it’s been the most brilliant, rewarding experience. The support from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom Scotland, especially the note sessions, pushed the project to a new and very exciting place that I don’t think I would’ve got to otherwise.

The day of filming itself was quite surreal. Nothing prepares you from being cooped up in a room with your laptop to be being out in the fresh air with lots of people bringing the story to life. It’s a lovely feeling!

Anita Vettesse

I'm interested in baddies. So the idea I originally pitched to The Break was just that: an exploration of a completely amoral character. A few drafts later and something happened to me that had never happened before: I got the same set of notes twice. So I chucked out my whole story. I kept the character and put her in a situation where the stakes couldn't be higher. I got through.

The entire team were gloriously, fanatically perfectionists. The Costume Designer Carole Fraser plucked the perfect costume from a vague note saying the character is 'neatly dressed' and director Raisah Ahmed saw right to the heart of the character and turned her into something real. I spent the day on set in astonishment as the character I made up stood there in the flesh. 

Grace Knight

I thought I stood no chance when applying for ‘The Break’. In fact, when I was selected, I cried and then I cried a bit more through sheer happiness.

Throughout the entire development process and The Comedy Unit have continued to nurture my idea, support me in its development and help me to break down barriers. Specific barriers that I had been struggling to break down on my own for years as a writer.

My idea focuses on the complexity of cultural, religious and sexual identity blending together. I wanted to showcase a character that deals with making a respectable, responsible and independent choice about their identity without self-destructing. Rather than it being a problem, my story was seen as ambitious and became a real labor of love for everyone working on it. 

Omar Raza

I’ve been a fan my whole life. My father is a Rangers fan as his father was before him. The passion for Rangers and is unrivalled, the baggage of hatred fuelled by religious division is as problematic as it’s ever been. Most fans are tired of the curious banners and unsavoury songs, an ever present background noise with little relevance to the modern football fan. Having recently moved to Swansea (a one team city) Glasgow’s ‘vocal minority’ has never felt louder. I was drawn to the imagined quandary that only in Glasgow would a young man be more concerned about telling his father what team his boyfriend supported than the fact that he was gay in the first place.

Seeing the script take shape and being present for the shoot itself was a fantastic experience. Through the development process it became obvious that as well as dealing with the negative side of , it was important to shine a light on the positive too. Glasgow has its problems with football, but with the most passionate fans in the world, most of whom are ready to leave the past where it belongs, hopefully one day that problematic monitory can be silenced.

Stewart Thomson

This is a story about a half-Chinese social outcast doing anything she can to pick some scraps from the feasting table that is the school social scene. It is a story about the comedy of desperation, loneliness and the impossibility of acceptance. Being half Chinese myself the viewer may lazily assume that this is in some way autobiographical, and make the knee-jerk, uninformed assumption that these are the sorts of sorry events by which my own school life was marred. They’d be absolutely right, of course. For that reason I have loved transforming these horrendous anecdotes into something enjoyable and of course therapeutic, in a way.

In this monologue we see Franny Wong trying desperately to get into a party, to which she has brought a bottle of (my favourite) dry sherry, in order to snare the man of her dreams, Ferdinand Trotter. (Disclaimer: All names and likenesses to real individuals are purely coincidental.) I am of course extremely grateful to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom for giving me the platform to vent my excruciating teenage angst and of course to give me as a new writer confidence, help and a writing credit!

Sophie Wu

You can also watch all 5 episodes of The Break plus Series 2 on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer

Find out more about & of The Break

Can you tell us a bit about five by five and how you became involved in the project?

is five five-minute films that stand alone, but can also be watched back-to-back as one 25 minute film. I got involved because I was lucky enough to be working with on another project and he asked if I’d like to be involved in this one as well.

Idris was talking about themes that I was very interested in – looking at identity and perception and looking at those chance encounters that you have that can, you know, potentially change somebody’s outlook…or their day, at the very least.

It sounded like a great opportunity and, also, I’ve spent the last couple of years writing on other people’s shows and this was an opportunity for me to lead a group of writers and I hadn’t had that experience before, so it was a great opportunity to try something new.

What does the role of “lead writer” entail? And how did you feel about taking on that title?

It was slightly different to the normal thing you might have on a show, where you have a lead writer who has created it, written a first episode, storylined it and then, you know, you bring on other writers. With this we were certain about the themes we wanted to explore and we had an idea for the format of it, but it was much more up for grabs, in the writers' room, what was going to happen.

So it was a writers' room process?

Oh, definitely a writers' room process, yes. We got into the room, people had brought ideas, we discussed them and we, as a group of people, had to meet the challenge of creating something that would both stand alone as individual films, but would work together as one story and explore the themes and ideas we wanted to explore. So it was quite, I think, a challenging and ambitious task.

Had you done a writers' room process like that previously?

Yeah, I’ve worked in quite a few writers' rooms on the shows I’ve been on in the last few years, but I’ve never been the lead writer and it’s a slightly different role. Although, to be honest, it’s kind of a free for all once you’re in the writers' room. Everyone’s throwing ideas in.

Did you have a lot of involvement with the other writers in that process? Did you have to guide them, help them…?

I was one of the voices, I suppose, feeding back to them, as is normal in telly. There’ll be a lot of people inputting notes and saying we’ll do it this way. You’ve got script editors, producers and, at a later stage, the director all throwing ideas in and, you know, I was one of those. And hopefully one of the voices that was trying to consolidate all those notes. It’s a really difficult thing for any writer, but particularly new writers, to respond to notes, actually. There were a lot of voices feeding in and it’s a really interesting project for that. Most of the writers hadn’t had a television experience before this and they did amazingly well at dealing with that. They were so good.

Did Idris Elba have any input in the writing process?

Yes, because he had brought the original idea and he was very clear on the themes he wanted to explore, he was very involved. He came into the writers' room, he had loads of great ideas for how we could tell the stories, what kind of characters it would be interesting for us to look at, and then further down the line he was looking at scripts and inputting on that. As well as being a fantastic actor, he’s a fantastic producer. As somebody who’s directed, he’s got loads of ideas across the board, so he’s a really good person to work with.

A lot of writers say that they struggle with writing short form content and find it much easier to write a full length drama – would you agree with that?

Totally. I think writing short films is so difficult. And this, because it had a dual thing of being slightly longer as well, was just so tough. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that expression “I apologise for the length of this letter. If I’d had more time it would have been shorter.” I think that totally sums it up really. Doing something short is so difficult.

With these films, they’re about encounters between two people and, because you’ve got five minutes, you can’t get into this person’s life or who they are as a person. It’s just about what happens, you know, in that moment between them. And it’s really hard to make something happen in five minutes between two characters. It’s an amazing discipline for us, as writers, to practise that thing of keeping action absolutely in the moment. Sometimes, in the writers' room, we’d stray off into that thing of, “Well, maybe she’s coming to this place and because of that, this is weighing on her mind…” but the audience don’t know any of that. All they care about is what does A say to B, what does B say back and what does that do to their relationship and how does that change them in some way. It’s almost like a writing exercise, you know. It’s good.

When did you first hear about the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom and what led you to submitting to our ?

I just feel like I’ve always been aware of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom in one way or another. I was somebody who, around that time, applied for lots of stuff. Lots of stuff on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom website and I went on to win that one.

Then I did the  which was also because of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom and a lot of people who I met afterwards would say, “Oh, you’ve been really lucky because you’ve won a few things through the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom and that’s really launched your career.” I would say, yeah, I am definitely lucky and that has definitely launched my career, but for the two things I got somewhere on, fifty things  I didn’t get anywhere on! Or 100 things!

The brilliant thing about the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom is that it’s a great way of bringing your work to the attention of people who can make a difference for you. I think the only bad thing about it is if applying for things and not getting anywhere is something that can knock your confidence, because it’s too easy to assume I didn’t get anywhere because I’m rubbish and that’s just not the case. It’s not a certainty that it’s not good because it didn’t win or didn’t get shortlisted. There are a million and one reasons, you know, so I would like people to know that I’ve applied for so much stuff that I’ve got nowhere on! 

For every writer that is out there working professionally, they have got a ton of rejection letters under their belt, I guarantee it. There are probably some very lucky ones who make it through without that, but they’re most definitely the exception.

How did you initially approach the transition from writing for radio, to writing for screen, or had you always been doing both?

I was writing stage plays really, when I entered the Alfred Bradley Award, but I was really keen to write for television. I’m trying to remember which came first.  I think it was that I did the short film – the iPlayer Shorts - and then around the same time I had the opportunity to write an episode of . Which I can’t recommend highly enough, actually, because the great thing about Doctors for a new writer is that you get to create the characters, you have to bring them a story and a group of characters. That is so exciting.

I did an episode of Doctors and that did well, and then I went on to another ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ show, , I wrote some episodes of that and then I went on to … All ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ shows! I have done other shows too! I do work for other broadcasters too, just so you know.

When people say that continuing dramas are just a training ground, what would you say to that sort of statement?

I would say that it’s an invaluable experience. Like any craft, you have to learn it, you know. All these shows give you a really good insight into something. Doctors is great because you’re creating characters. EastEnders is great because it’s got its own distinctive style, house style, that you have to write in. If you’re going to be a jobbing writer out there working on people’s shows, you need to be able to adopt the voice of that show. That’s a great skill to learn. I think working on continuing drama is great. I wouldn’t have got the opportunities I’ve had since if I hadn’t done that.  Also, it’s really good fun as well! 

Do you have any writing rituals? Or funny habits? 

Oh, only procrastination. Not being able to get started. And not being able to start until I’ve tidied up and had a cup of tea and had a bath and walked that cat. Or whatever else I can find. That thing of procrastinating, for me, was always about… You know, I’d have this script to write, I’d have this deadline, and really it’s the fear because once you’ve started, you’ve committed yourself. The script doesn’t exist. The script can be amazing, but if you commit yourself to write it, the script is what it is. But, actually, if you’ve got two weeks to do it and you don’t start until the second week, it’s not going to be a different script in the end. You’re just going to have spent a week worrying about it.

The more experience I’ve had, the more I’ve learnt, as well, that this stuff is so subjective. If one person doesn’t like your script or has particular notes, the next person will feel something different about it. I think it’s important not to allow those things to knock your confidence, really.

Have there ever been moments where you’ve said, actually, I’ll challenge that note, or would you always go with what’s been said? 

I think you definitely should challenge notes that you feel really strongly are not the right thing, but, you know, it’s a constant grappling with yourself of working out, “Is my response to this note because it’s not a good note? Or is my response to this note because I’m very attached to this and I’m defensive and I’ve lived with it for a long time and I can’t see it another way?”.

I think, generally, if someone is really pressing for a note, you’ve got to give them at least the benefit of trying it. I’ve never worked with any producers or script editors who’ve said, “You must do this.” It’s always been a dialogue. Collaboratively finding a way to get to the end of the process. For me, one of the most exciting things about television is how collaborative it is. For some writers, they want absolute, undiluted authorship. That’s great, I don’t think television is the right medium for those people. But if you like working with people and like an idea evolving and growing, then television’s brilliant. 

What advice would you give to new writers trying to break into TV and Radio? 

I think it’s learning to take what resonates from notes and leave the rest behind. Trying to develop a thick skin. Trying to not take rejection as a soul destroying thing. And to keep writing. The more you write the better you get. One time I was saying these kinds of things and I got kind of trolled for saying them. “Like we don’t know you have to write, Cat!” But I remember starting out and not writing that much and, kind of, just hoping that I’d get somewhere on these few bits that I did write.  But the more I write, the more I practise, the better I get.  And recycling. “I couldn’t make this happen as a stage play, let’s see if I can make it happen as a radio play.” It’s hard to invest into characters and then do nothing with them. Loads of times I’ve had stuff that didn’t happen for one reason or another and then come back in some form.

Can you tell us about your background as a writer?

I come from a family of writers and was a big reader as a kid, especially of fantasy, sci-fi and comics, and an obsessive TV and film watcher. I wrote sketch comedy, prose, and did musical theatre and playwriting in my teens and ran a theatre troupe with a group of friends in Dallas, Texas. I got undergrad and grad film degrees and dreamed of pursuing feature directing. But after writing and directing a short, , which did well on the festival circuit, I fell into promo directing and got a bit off track with features.

It was partly out of access and necessity I think, and partly not knowing myself well enough, that I’d been persuing a career in writing more indie, naturalistic drama which I didn’t really enjoy. Then when the financial crisis hit, and promo work began to dry up, I did a lot of comfort viewing. I rewatched things like and various incarnations, , and devoured , and , and had the epiphany that what I cared most about was genre storytelling.

So I made a conscious decision to focus more on genre and write for pleasure, in a more fannish mode, and worry less about whether people thought my material was worthy or “grown up.” And I think my writing became more genuine and actually, more mature as a result.

I think there’s a lot to be said for structure, especially in genre, and I’m always looking to deepen my understanding of story beats and how to utilize tropes. I think tropes are great by the way! My writing partner, , writes in a more contemporary, naturalistic style and that intersection of his naturalism and my genre sensibility is how you get .

When did you first start writing with Oliver Refson, was it specifically for Uncle?

Oli and I met at grad film school and have been writing together off and on for over a decade. We’d collaborated on several comedy screenplays over the years, but Uncle was our first joint TV project. He came up with the initial concept, there’s a hint of the autobiographical in there, and did the first draft of the pilot. I came on in the rewrite of the pilot and we’ve been writing the show together ever since. It ceased to be autobiographical pretty early on and the concept really expanded. My background in music helped open up the music storylines we explore and knowing both and are musicians, as well as much of the supporting cast, gave us the freedom to push the show in that direction even more.

How does it work writing as a partnership? Do you think it works particularly well for comedy?

YES! I think that’s why there’s so many good comedy double acts. If a joke makes us both laugh, it’s much more likely to make the cut and we’ve developed a shared sense of banter over the years.

We come up with a story concept together and try to have a theme that all the characters are working towards in the episode. Whether that’s a subject like “losing/gaining sex appeal” or “priorities” or whether it’s more of a moral lesson, we boil it down to its simplest version and make sure A, B, and sometimes C plots, are connected in some way. Ideally, if there’s a song in that episode, we want that to relate as well.

It’s a very American way of working, and helps gives us a framework for an episode. We used to be more chaotic with ploughing into a first draft when the idea was half-cooked and then reworking it, which sometimes required multiple page-one rewrites. Now we break stories properly and outline the beats on a whiteboard before we start and it’s a lot faster. This is the difference between writing episode 1 and episode 20!

Someone usually writes the first draft, then we swap drafts back and forth, typically we each do two full drafts a piece with a lot of discussion along the way, and come together at the end for a read-through out loud (doing the characters) and an edit pass, cut-down, and joke punch-up that we do together. We then submit for executive notes, followed by channel notes, which both involve rounds of that edit/punch-up/cut-down again.

We like a pacey show and the ability to cut out air or bits that don’t work, so we purposely write a little long (a typical 28-29 minute ep will be 34-36 A4 pages). The fact Oli and I direct the series helps, because we have a strong idea of how want it to sound and if it doesn’t work, we can cut it in the edit.

We’re really tough on ourselves about theme, structure and joke construction. We’ll argue over a word in a sentence or the sound of a new character’s names. We both have hills we’ll die on.

We do think there’s a good deal of craft to writing a sitcom or comedy drama. And over time you could say we’ve developed a bit of a dogma about it. We abide by , but often do rule of two, and there’s one running gag in that we do, seriously, I think 12 times. We just do it to the point where it’s not funny at all, and then hopefully comes back round to being funny again. We just drove that joke into the ground for our own amusement.

What was the origin of the idea for Uncle? Is it based on a real-life situation or anyone you know?

Oli was living in New York while his siblings had kids and by the time he’d moved back to London, he realized he really didn’t know any of his nieces or nephews very well. So the concept of the show is, “What if this inappropriate uncle and uptight nephew were vaguely aware of each other’s existence but had no meaningful relationship?” And the show begins the day that relationship begins. Oli’s obviously not the irresponsible, hot mess that Andy is, but that makes for much better comedy and drama - we think.

Can you describe the development process for Uncle?

Oli sent the script to his agent—who instead of giving notes, sent it out immediately. Within a few days about five production companies were interested. We went with who shared our vision for the show. All the channels passed at that point and we thought it was dead. A year went by and our exec producer, , had the idea to see if wanted to attach. Nick responded to the material and that got the interest of at Channel 4 who had commissioned . Uncle’s first pilot was part of the scheme and got a good response. But Shane left Channel 4 shortly thereafter and none of the 4Funnies got commissioned. So it was dead again.

Months went by. Shane became head of comedy at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and we were asked if we’d like to take Uncle over to ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three. Which seemed like a great fit. But the original format was a commercial 22 minutes and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three needed around 28 minutes.
So we re-wrote and re-filmed the pilot (Nick’s hair had changed tremendously and Elliot had already grown) and added some scenes and changed some casting.

In retrospect, we can’t imagine going back to the shorter commercial length, as the added time gives us the chance to explore more dramatic themes and play with pacing.

How would you describe the tone of the show?

There’s this new term “sad-com” floating about and we get compared to other things tonally in this space. We coined the term “Melanchomedy” to describe the pilot and we like that one too. Comedy drama also works. We want the comedy highs high, but for there to also be pathos and real sadness. And real consequences for a character’s actions. It really comes to a head in Series Three actually.

There’s a meditative, tragic undertone to a lot of Uncle. Andy is a depressive, the show starts with a suicide attempt, and we address mental health, addiction and dysfunctional family dynamics in multiple ways, both comedic and dramatic, over the course of the show. We often ask ourselves as writers, “How absolutely heartbreaking can we make this and still technically count as a sitcom?”

Who writes the musical numbers?

Nick Helm writes the songs for the show, which are produced and arranged by Andy Jones. Additionally, composer Matt Simpson, aka Segal, does our score.

Usually we give Nick a prompt in the script, typically just a song title and the genre, with how it needs to fit in thematically with the episode and he takes it from there. I directed all but one of the videos, save one done by Oli, and Oli directs all Nick’s live/concert style performances in the show, so we have a good sense of what we want visually out of the song ahead of time.
I love all Nick’s songs, but I think he’s really outdone himself in Series Three.

How do you make a character that could be unlikeable sympathetic to the audience?

OOh, We talk about this A LOT. I personally think the trick to a sympathetic anti-hero is down to POV and subjectivity. It goes a little bit back to the dogma I was referring to earlier. If you cleave quite strongly to the subjective viewpoint of your character, they can behave badly and the audience will still be forced to identify with them, through their eyes. We’re complicit in that character’s actions and often root for them, even if what they’re after isn’t a thing they should get. Not only is Andy pretty badly behaved, but Errol can be quite manipulative and passive aggressive as well, even though he acts as Andy’s conscience.

Anti-heroes are popular at the moment, so on the scale of amoral protagonists, Andy’s not even that bad. He at least makes an attempt to make moral decisions and gradually, through the course of three series, he’s actually had some growth. Having the subjective fantasies of the music videos further gets you into Andy’s headspace, his rich imagination, which gives a window into his soul, and maybe mitigates some of the more awful things he does and says.

More than anything, I think Nick Helm’s natural charisma and innate sympathetic quality does a lot of heavy-lifting on the likability front.

Do you have particular actors in mind for characters when you write?

We do for some characters and not for others. was our dream Bruce; we knew his work from .

We didn’t write the leads with Nick, or Elliot in mind. We had to see them to know they were right and they all had such great chemistry with each other. But they inhabit those characters like a glove and over time have helped shape the voices of the characters. After three series, we write much more for the individual actors now because we can hear their voices in our heads.

Sometimes we’ve just had a bit of casting luck. Our executive producer, , suggested for the character Marsh this series. We hadn’t had him in mind but now can’t imagine anyone else inhabiting that part. He’s wonderful.

How has Uncle evolved over the 3 series? What is new for Series 3?

Well, both Andy and Errol have grown up a bit and we wanted their journeys to parallel. As Errol becomes an adolescent, Andy becomes a madolescent and they explore that space together. Errol, now a proper teenage boy, is getting more into the idea of girls and romance and Andy is looking to deepen his friendships with women, something he was told he wasn’t capable of in series 2, and he’s looking to stop screwing up his music career.

Also, everyone lives together under one roof now, which makes for some interesting family dynamics. I don’t want to spoil too much but we’ve also got some really cool music videos, including an animation, great guest cameos, some old faves are back, and there’s - a fantasy episode!

Do you think the show has changed at all with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three going online?

It’s exciting what’s going on in TV at the moment. VOD platforms and more online commissioning has opened up storytelling opportunities and pushed the form forward.

But we’ve actually made a conscious attempt to have it feel the same as it did on terrestrial TV. We’re aware people watch Uncle in a lot of different formats. On repeats, on Catch Up and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer, as well as iTunes, DVDs and VoD channels in other countries. We want something that works in both digital, online formats and on your standard TV as well. We also hope, if you binge all three series, that thematically and tonally you feel it all hangs together (you might even start to notice a lot of Easter Eggs).

What’s the most useful advice you’ve been given as a writer?

Don’t be afraid to let your first draft be bad. A lot of writers are afraid to do what we call a “vomit draft.” Just heave it all onto the page and don’t worry about editing yet. It’s really difficult to think as an editor and idea generator at the same time; they’re at odds. And writers can get too hung up on perfecting every word from the start. No, fill the page. You won’t have anything to edit until you put it down. And you can perfect it in later drafts.

Also, a writing habit is great, but don’t kick yourself if you’re not a “write every day” type. Some people just can’t manage, whether it’s because of work, kids, or health or emotional challenges. Just find a rhythm that works for you.

What are your 3 Desert Island DVDs?

If we’re talking TV series, I’m doing boxsets and I’m going to be extra cheeky and count all the different Star Trek series as one show. I think my others would be Buffy and either , , , or . That was very cheeky. Definitely more than three.

Cast announced as production begins on The Break II - five new original short film monologues for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three.

An exciting array of young and upcoming stars have been cast for - a collaboration between ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Writersroom and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Drama Production of five original short monologues for , from across the UK.

Filming is currently taking place in Birmingham and the five distinctive short films will cover everything from a young man fretting about the imminent arrival of his first child to a young woman’s foolhardy mistake putting everything on track in her life, at risk.

The stellar line-up includes:

(Broadchurch, Waterloo Road, Balcony) who will star in ‘Etching’, written by Emteaz Hussian.

(Danny and the Human Zoo, Black Mirror) star of ‘Scotch Bonnett by Chino Odimba.

(My Brother the Devil, The Infidel, Tormented) star of ‘The Package’ by Maya Sondhi.

(Ordinary Lies, Shameless, Vera) star of ‘Tits’ by Berri George

(Doctor Who, EastEnders, Mandem on the Wall) star of ‘Special Delivery’ by Nathaniel Price.

Further cast includes (Doctors, Hollyoaks, 4 O’clock Club) who will star alongside Jovian Wade in ‘Special Delivery’ and (EastEnders, Pram Face, Eric & Ernie) who will be alongside Adelle Leonce in ‘Tits’.

The short-filmed monologues will be on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three around February 2017.