Today we're announcing the names of the 12 writers who were part of our Scottish Voices development group for 2022. In total 69 writers were part of our Voices groups this year and we're delighted to be announcing them all this week.

"BBC Writersroom Scotland are incredibly excited to announce the 12 Scottish Voices we’ve been working with over the past few months. It’s been a real pleasure getting to know this lovely bunch, and we have loved helping each one hone their craft and work towards an authored TV idea that showcases their unique voice. Watch this space, Scotland!"

Stephanie Fyfe (Assistant Commissioner for Scotland, BBC Writersroom and BBC Drama)

See details of all the Voices writers 2022

Find out more about the Voices programme

Tiarna Armstrong is a 25-year old queer, black screenwriter from Northern Ireland. Having experimented with fiction as well as writing music articles for local websites and blogs, Armstrong studied French with Creative Writing at Bangor University, where she discovered her love of screenwriting. Having completed her undergraduate degree, Armstrong went onto study MA Screenwriting at the prestigious Screen Academy Scotland in Edinburgh and quickly signed with an agent soon after. ​​

Armstrong is currently in the process of adapting one of her screenplays into a novel and is one of the participants for BBC Writersroom - Scottish Voices for this year. With such a varied background, Tiarna is a proud and passionate activist in every aspect of her life, but especially in her screenwriting where she creates stories predominantly centred around marginalised people and underrepresented groups. ​

Alice Clark writes drama for stage and screen. Most recently she worked in a writers' room for STV Drama and her first short film ‘My Name Is Beth’ was selected for Glasgow Short Film Festival 2023 (winner, Best Young Filmmaker). In 2022 she was commissioned to write ‘Made In China’ by Play Pie Pint, which enjoyed a sell-out run at The Traverse (**** Scotsman). Alice was selected for The Writers Lab UK&I 2021, with Screen Scotland and Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films supporting her place on the six-month script development scheme. She recently completed an MA in Screenwriting and graduated with distinction.

Originally from Bristol, Alice worked in story and drama facilitation in Newcastle and then China where she lived for twelve years before moving to Scotland with her family. She is currently developing new film, tv, and theatre projects and works as a script reader. Alice writes stories that focus on marginalised voices and social issues that resonate, provoke, and give hope.

Craig Stewart Ferguson is a screenwriter & playwright from Glasgow who writes across drama & comedy. Often character-driven, darkly sardonic & emotionally thrilling stories, his work is centred around relatable misfits, grappling with the challenges of the modern world.​

His first comedy pilot ‘Bawbag’ reached the top 2% of submissions to the BBC Comedy Writersroom 2018, showcasing a “bold voice” and “raucously, rudely funny writer”. His follow up ‘The Right Honourable Member’, a political, trans-rights drama, made the top 15% in​ BBC Drama Writersroom 2019 & top 20% of 2020’s Red Planet Prize respectively. Craig’s latest drama comedy spec ‘The Politician’s Keelie’ placed in the top 10% of BBC Writersroom 2021. His futuristic, sci-fi animation sitcom treatment ‘Clan Robotica’ was longlisted for BBC Ignite opportunity, also in 2021, and ‘Sleaze’, his latest drama spec, a ‘state of the nation’ piece, made the top 12% of BBC Writersroom’s Open Call 2022.​

Craig has written educational stage plays for young people with additional learning needs, alongside jokes & material for TV, Radio & Digital. His recent BDSM play proposal ‘Kinkhole’ was shortlisted for Tron Theatre & Playwright Studio Scotland’s ‘Writer Lab’ 2022.​

One of the twelve BBC Writersroom Scottish Voices 2022 cohort, Craig is currently developing a high-end drama treatment for a comedic, romantic crime-thriller, based in Glasgow, entitled: ‘Love Heist’.​

Jack Gemmell is a Glaswegian writer and producer, for both stage and screen. ​​

His sophomore short film '12th Man' premiered at Glasgow Short Film Festival in 2021 and was screened in Berlin, Norwich, and across the UK. At present, he is producing 'Black Wool' through Sharp Shorts with director Eubha Akilade. ​​

For the stage, he was chosen to be part of the Traverse Young Writers cohort in 2021 and has since been in artistic development with Traverse Theatre with his full-length play ‘Tobojo’ (Boris Johnson is Toast)'. This was staged as part of First Stages Festival in March 2022.​

Georgina Love is an Australian screenwriter based in Glasgow since 2020. In recognition of her writing, Love has been awarded a partial scholarship by Final Draft, was the first international recipient of the Screencraft Fellowship, awarded the John Hinde prize by the Australian Writers Guild and selected for the Blacklist “Aussie List”. She was also one of the recipients of the Smart For A Girl initiative run by Endemol Shine in conjunction with Screen Australia.​​

Georgina has worked as a Writer, Script Editor, Script Executive and Development Executive in scripted television and as a casting producer in unscripted TV. She writes offbeat character-driven genre, usually sci-fi, and is developing several projects for film and TV. Georgina is currently in development with her original TV series ‘Pig’ with Longboat Pictures and working on the second season of the animated children’s show ‘Space Nova’. ​​

In 2020, Georgina signed with Christine Glover at Casarotto Ramsay & Associates. In the short term, she is looking forward to continuing to work in writers rooms and develop her own shows. In the future, Love hopes to couple her writing chops with her development experience and work in a development role on a returning series.​

Felix O’Brien is a screenwriter and theatre practitioner based in Inverclyde, Scotland. He has an MA with Distinction in Writing for Television from Glasgow Caledonian, which he attained after securing a scholarship from BBC Scotland. ​​

He has attended invitational writers' groups at the Royal Court, Theatre503 and Soho Theatre. To date, his work has been presented at The Beacon, Southwark Playhouse, The Finborough, The Bunker, Theatre503, The Old Red Lion, The Cockpit, The Charing Cross Theatre, The Union, Latitude Festival and Paines Ploughs Roundabout at the Edinburgh Fringe, among others. ​​

In 2017 and 2019 he was shortlisted for Channel 4’s 4Screenwriting attachment, making the top 40 from over 1,500 submissions. He also has extensive experience as a performer, director, reader, deviser and workshop facilitator. 

David O. Gray is an award winning screenwriter and director, born in Bonnybridge. He specialises in genre filmmaking with a specific interest in horror, comedy and thriller-y things with a working class spin.  He began making sketch comedy five years ago as part of the comedy duo - Kris and Dave - and has accrued over 25 million views,  working with online platforms such as BBC The Social and BBC Scotland’s Short Stuff. Many shorts were collated for broadcast on television, including a sketch made for 'Socially Distanced with Susan Calman'.​​

Subsequently, he developed two short form series for BBC iPlayer. Firstly, he developed and co-directed three episodes of ‘Hings’, which was nominated for a RTS Scotland - Short Form Award.​

The second short form series was 'Tales from the Pub’, a pitch-black horror comedy which went on to win GMAC’s Big Flick of the Year Award. He has been shortlisted in the top 1% of the BBC Writersroom Drama Room and has been shortlisted for the 4Stories writers scheme.​​

David recently wrote and presented ‘Close Encounters of the Bonnybridge Kind’, a radio documentary about the history of UFOs in Bonnybridge. He currently has several projects in development with production companies.​

Michael John O’Neill is a Northern Irish playwright, dramaturg and theatre producer based in Scotland. In 2019 Michael won the Bruntwood Prize’s Original New Voice Award for his play ‘Akedah’. In 2020 his short monologue ‘Sore Afraid’ was produced as a digital project by the National Theatre of Scotland, the Citizens Theatre, and BBC Scotland. In 2021 his play ‘This is Paradise’ was produced by the Traverse Theatre for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won the Popcorn Writing Award. ​​

Michael is currently on writing attachments with National Theatre of Scotland and Hampstead Theatre and is under commission with the Almeida Theatre as one of the Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays writers for 2021/22. ​​

His work as a theatre producer includes Artistic Producer of the Tron Theatre (2014-2020), where he founded the Tron Theatre’s new work department, and commissioned and produced new writing including Isobel McArthur’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’* (*Sort of).​

Rachel O’Regan is an award-winning playwright based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She began playwriting at Australian Theatre for Young Peoples National Studio, and was selected for their 2016 production ‘The Voices Project: All Good Things’. She soon moved to the UK and was accepted to Edinburgh Napier Universitys’ MFA Playwriting programme, where she graduated with Distinction. Rachels first full-length play ‘Hungerland’ won the Bread and Roses Playwriting Award in 2019.​​

Her most recent play, ‘Afterparty’, was produced by womens theatre company F-Bomb Theatre and sold out its entire run at Edinburgh Fringe 2021. F-Bomb will return this year’s Fringe with Rachel’s upcoming play “The Beatles Were A Boyband”, which explores the impacts of misogyny and violence on women. The project was one of 20 to receive support from Creative Scotland Crowdmatch. ​​

Rachel is interested in writing stories about women, social inequality and urgent issues all with an accessible sprinkle of comedy and pop culture. ​

Megan Shandley is a writer and performer from Edinburgh and a graduate of LAMDA. She gained a certificate in screenwriting from NFTS Scotland last year and was selected as a participant on Short Circuit's 2022 Convergence programme. She is currently writing ‘Paddington Marmalade Messiness’ an immersive theatre show running at Dalkeith Palace this summer. Having spent five years gigging on the UK comedy circuit, Megan has brought several stand-up shows to major UK festivals, has performed several times on the BBC, and was a 2017 Scottish Variety Award Nominee and a 2018 Funny Women Grand Finalist.  ​​

Megan is keen to bring both her classical drama and comedy experience into her work, and likes to deal with themes of identity, self acceptance and belonging. She is drawn to vulnerable yet resilient characters who are trying to make sense of the world around them.​

Martin Smith is a BAFTA winning filmmaker whose short ‘Tracks’ won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Short Film. He relishes drama rich in moral complexity, and is currently directing 2nd unit on Jack Thorne's latest drama ‘Best Interests’ with Chapter One Pictures and Endeavor Content for BBC One. He is developing original feature ‘Tarantula’ with First Features and 104 Films, plus several original drama series.​ ​

‘Armchair Detectives’, the crime drama hybrid Martin directed for Tiger Aspect and BBC One, won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Entertainment. Martin directed two episodes of ‘Holby City’ for BBC One, which was Nominated for Best Continuing Drama at the 2022 BAFTA TV Awards.​ ​

Martin is a member of the Directors UK Disability Working Group, and 2021 saw him selected for BBC Elevate. He is represented by Jennifer Thomas at United Agents.​

JD Stewart is a gay playwright, TV writer, screenwriter, performer, and digital content creator from the Scottish Borders. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University and an MSc in Playwriting from The University of Edinburgh.​​

His work includes: ‘Gay Boy’ (Frigid Festival, New York, 2018), ‘Compression’ (Theatre Uncut Finalist, 2019), ‘One Twenty-One’ (Verity Bargate Top 100, 2020), ‘The Birthday, Engagement, Funeral Party’ (Hope Mill Theatre Prize Shortlist, 2021), ‘Elastic’ (Platform Presents Play Prize Finalist, 2021), ‘Pinkface’ with Olivia Fischer (Vanishing Point: Everyone is Creative Award, 2021) and ‘Daniel Getting Married’ (dir. Kenny Miller, Play, Pie & a Pint 2022). In 2021 he was commissioned by the National Library of Scotland and 1623 Theatre. ​​

Alongside Frazer Flintham, JD is co-host and co-creator of the UK LGBTQ+ History Podcast, The One Fifty Marchers, which charts the first LGBTQ march on November 27th, 1970.​

The Scottish Voices writers for 2020/21 are:

RAISAH AHMED

Agent: Jessica Cooper, Curtis Brown

Raisah is a Scottish Asian Muslim Writer/Director, based in Glasgow, currently working across television and film. She has been shortlisted for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab twice - in 2015 with Meet Me By The Water and in 2018 with Safar which is currently in development with Producer Zorana Piggott. She is in development with Zorana Piggott on a WW1 feature, Half-Moon Camp, for Film 4. Her writing credits include CBeebies shows Feeling Better, Molly & Mack and Control a BBC The Social phone drama and Aden’s Journey a short drama about a refugee unaccompanied minor for the Celcis course ‘Caring for Children on the Move’. Alumni of the EIFF Talent Lab 2014, Raisah had her first commissioned short as writer/director Meet Me By The Water premiere at EIFF 2016, it went on to be programmed by BBC Scotland’s ‘Next Big Thing’ programme. She directed one of BBC 3’s The Break III, 2018, was a shadowing director on CBeebies Molly & Mack S2 and most recently directed on CBBC’s ‘Sparks’.

 

TIM BARROW

Agent: Rachel Daniels, Berlin Associates

Born in Edinburgh, Tim is an actor, writer, director & producer who trained at Drama Centre London.  Tim founded Lyre Productions to make contemporary Scottish feature films. He wrote and produced award-winning Scottish road movie The Inheritance and Edinburgh love story The Space Between. His new feature Riptide – a schizophrenia love story road movie – is currently playing film festivals worldwide.

Tim’s play Guy was produced at London’s Pleasance Theatre, and directed by Michael Fentiman. Union premiered at Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre, directed by Mark Thomson, and is published by Playdead Press. Neither God Nor Angel played at Oran Mor / Traverse, directed by Ryan Alexander Dewar. A War Of Two Halves (co-written with Paul Beeson) played at Tynecastle Park stadium, directed by Bruce Strachan. Sweet F.A. (co-written with Paul Beeson) plays at the Edinburgh Fringe 2021.  He received a New Writers Award from Playwrights Studio, was selected for the Wellcome Trust Ideas Lab at Edinburgh International Film Festival, and has worked as a Starter Artist at National Theatre of Scotland.  Tim is currently a participant on BBC Writersroom’s Drama Room 2021-22. 

 

PAUL BEESON

Paul is an Edinburgh born actor, writer, and co-founder of This Is My Story Productions. He has many theatre credits and has previously toured the U.K. and internationally with acclaimed company Nonsense Room Productions, performing in children’s shows including You Choose, which he also devised and wrote. Paul’s first venture into writing was sketch show A Beginner’s Guide to the Fringe in 2005, and then he co-wrote and performed in the critically successful Edinburgh Fringe sellout production of A War of Two Halves in 2018 and 2019. The play received many 5 star reviews and was one of BritishTheatre.com’s Critics Choices of 2019. The play will be returning in 2021.  He has also written two short films, The Hardest Hobbit to Break and Route de Sort.

Paul is currently developing and writing two comedy drama series, The VHS Diaries and Theatre in Education, along with a companion piece for A War of Two Halves, called Sweet F.A., which will premiere in 2021.  He has also recently filmed a pilot for Scottish sitcom Game of Cones and recorded an audio drama called From An Island.

 

MICHAEL BURNETT

Mikey is an Edinburgh playwright and screenwriter who writes predominantly in the east coast vernacular. His past work comprises both drama and comedy. Focusing mainly on working class stories and characters. His most recent stage play, The Bookies, is a co-written piece which will be produced by The Dundee Rep in May, 2022. His short film, In Her Corner, adapted from his Fringe 2019 hit play of the same name is currently in post production. The stage play version was shortlisted for The Papatango new writing prize as well as being longlisted for Theatre 503's new writing award. Mikey is currently developing his Scots language adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's classic, Pygmalion. As a playwright he has previously won an attachment to The Traverse Theatre, as part of the prestigious ‘Traverse fifty’ and throughout the years he has had many different plays staged all over Scotland. He has also written on commission for the London theatre company, Paines Plough.

 

LOUISE GRANGER

Louise graduated from The National Film and Television School with an MA (Distinction) in Screenwriting in May 2021. Throughout her two years there, she wrote three television drama pilots, one sit-com, two feature length films, four video games and had a short play, 'Boy & Man', performed at The Soho Theatre in October 2019. Her first IMDB credit as Screenwriter was for 'What The Eye Don’t See', a short film made in collaboration with NFTS student producing and directing students. Graduation Showcase piece, 'A Thousand Words' was performed live at The Unicorn Theatre in London in June 2021. 

Louise completed NFTS Scotland's Producing Your First Feature short course led by Carolynne Sinclair Kidd in October 2021, and has a completed finance package for her feature film, 'The Other Half', with Scottish BAFTA award winning Director Garry Anthony Fraser attached to direct.  She is currently in development with an original TV Series with MediaPro UK, and has recently been selected to take part in Series Mania Institute's Eureka Program in Lille, France.  

 

TARA HEPBURN

Agent: Emilie Loldrup Hansen at Kitson Press

Tara is a Glasgow-based writer, originally from Aberdeen. She was shortlisted for the BBC Comedy Room in 2019. In the same year was awarded a scholarship to attend the NFTS Scotland screenwriting course “Writing the TV Pilot” where she developed her comedy/drama mystery “All Killer, No Filler” which was longlisted for the 2020 BBC Drama Room. During her time on Scottish Voices, Tara has broadened her writing experience: writing jokes for BBC Scotland’s Breaking The News, Drama for Radio 3 and sketches for BBC Short Stuff.  She recently earned her first credit in TV drama, writing an episode of the three-part series Granite Harbour, broadcast on BBC Scotland and BBC One in December 2022.

Tara is passionate about television which celebrates the diversity of modern life, and particularly things which shine a light on the humour and heart of the working-class experience.

  

BELLE JONES

Belle trained as an actor at the RSAMD (now RCS) where she won the Percival Steeds Prize for Spoken Word and the Norah Cooper Mulligan Award for Verse Speaking. Her first piece for the stage, an adaptation of Aesop’s Fables had a successful run at the Arches in 2011. She wrote several short pieces for the Village Pub Theatre before she was a mentored playwright with the Playwrights Studio Scotland and shortlisted for the Tron’s Progressive Playwright Award.
Her mixed media show “Shame” ran at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017 and was shortlisted for the Scottish Arts Club Award. The following year she returned to the Fringe with “Closed Doors”, a spoken word storytelling piece supported by Summerhall and was commissioned to write a play for Hopscotch Theatre company which toured Scotland.

In 2019 her show “High Land” was premiered at Coastival in Scarborough and she has developed this idea into a pilot episode with support from BBC writersroom’s Scottish Voices. Also in 2019 Belle received the ICONS commission from Perth Museum and Art Gallery to develop an installation about the life of Flora MacDonald, another project she has developed for TV format. During 2020 Belle studied Screenwriting and Script Editing with NFTS and was invited to write and direct a short film “Lapse” as part of the web-series The End. Most recently, her comedy short “Showing Face” was released as part of BBC Scotland Short Stuff.

 

LISA KEDDIE

Lisa is a Glasgow based writer who writes for the stage and screen. She has created short form comedy for BBC Scotland and Channel 4's online platforms. Her BBC Short Stuff 'Internal Monologue Girl' series of sketches has over 3.2 million views to date. She has written 4 web series’ for theatre company Visible Fictions, has sold out Glasgow Comedy Festival with her sketch group Who Fed Benny?, was one of the writers for stage sketch show Witsherface, and her short plays have been performed across Scotland.  During lockdown she has adapted Romeo & Juliet for zoom, which was nominated for best film at the Shakespeare Shorts festival, written and directed an episode of The End, a collaborative filmmaking project, and created a short film about talking pigeons for Visible Fictions.

Lisa has an MA in Television Fiction Writing from Glasgow Caledonian University, for which she received a full academic scholarship from Shed Media. She was one of the Playwrights’ Studio mentored playwrights in 2015.

 

HANNAH LAVERY

Hannah is an award winning poet, playwright and performer. Lavery’s poetry has been published widely and her poem, Scotland, you’re no mine, was selected by Roseanne Watt as one of the Best Scottish Poems 2019. The Drift, her autobiographical play toured Scotland as part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Season 2019 and in 2020 she was awarded a New Playwrights' Award by the Playwrights Studio Scotland and selected by Owen Sheers’ as one of his Ten Writers Asking Questions That Will Shape Our Future for the International Literature Showcase, a project from the National Writing Centre and the British Council. Hannah is one of Imaginate's Accelerator Artists and an Associate Artist with the National Theatre of Scotland. In November 2020, her play Lament for Sheku Bayoh was directed by Hannah in a co-production with the Royal Lyceum Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh International Festival.

 

EMMA LENNOX

Agent: Julia Kreitman, The Agency

Emma is a comedy and drama writer based in Glasgow. She currently has a sitcom in development with Young Films and Channel 4, and an episode of Channel 5 mini series The Holiday is in production with Projector. She has worked on original TV ideas with Carnival Films, Banijay and has a feature script with Hopscotch Films. Emma was awarded a place on the Young Film Foundation 2019/2020 programme and is currently in development with TOD productions awarded through the Scottish Drama Writers’ Programme.

Emma has a filmmaking background and developed her short film Grimm Street through the Scottish Film Talent Network. Grimm Street premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival before screening internationally and winning a BAFTA new talent award for lead actress Sarah Miele. Emma started out writing comedy for BBC Radio Scotland, and educational shorts for BBC Learning and Bitesize.

 

SEAN LIONADH

Agent: Emtpage Hallet

Sean is a poet, writer and filmmaker from Glasgow, known for his visual poem Time for Love, which reached millions of people online, won a 2019 Royal Television Society award and was translated into five languages. It also inspired a Ted talk, and a movement called the Time for Love Project. Sean’s poems are studied as part of the English curriculum in International Schools. On Creative Scotland’s Bellrock Residency, Sean developed his first feature script, Nostophobia, a psychological horror and relationship drama exploring a gay relationship, and the terror where intimacy and trauma meet. The project is currently in development with producers. Sean published his first poetry collection in 2019 with Speculative Books. Aside from creating work, Sean runs poetry workshops with young people, and is keen to work closely with the LGBTQ+ community within schools, community groups and institutions.

 

ERIN MCGEE

Erin is a playwright and dramaturg, born and based in Edinburgh. She graduated from Queen Margaret University with a BA in Drama and Performance in 2016 and, more recently, the University in Glasgow with a Masters in Theatre Studies in 2018. She first began to explore playwriting through the Traverse Young Writers programme in 2017 and has been writing ever since, her work being rooted in feminism, gallows humour, and the Scottish identity. Erin has had her plays performed in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with her one woman show Scuttle being performed at the Assembly Roxy and at Gilmorehill. Her play Mooning was commissioned by the Traverse Theatre as part of their 2019 festival programme. Currently, her play Crickets is in development with Edinburgh based company Shift Theatre.

 

EDEN LUKE MCINTYRE

Eden Luke is a script consultant, editor, performer, and writer for TV, radio, stage, and online. He completed his Master's Degree in TV Fiction Writing at Glasgow Caledonian University in September 2020, writing an original comedy-drama pilot as his dissertation. Previously studying at the University of Stirling, he received BA Honours Degrees in English Studies and Film & Media Studies - specialising in scriptwriting - under the tutelage of writer Stuart Hepburn.

Eden began his professional writing career in 2018 when he was part of the BBC Scotland Writersroom 'The Biggest Weekend.' His original sci-fi comedy shows 'Jettisoned' and 'Intergalactic Layabouts' aired on Stirling City Radio between Summer 2019 and early 2020, alongside a sketch comedy series 'Well-Fired Radio' and 'The News Where You Aren't'. His online comedy series for The Comedy Crowd TV, 'Well-Fired Comedy', won a place at the LOCO London Comedy Film Festival in Summer 2019.

Currently, Eden is freelance writing and consulting for various companies, competitions, and productions. He was appointed as a judge for NYC Midnight 2021 and provides script support and scriptwriting blogs for Screenwriters Network. He also creates original content with his production team, 'Well-Fired Productions', which debuts online on various platforms. He is hopeful that several stage shows, radio plays, and other projects commissioned before lockdown will be produced and performed soon.

Additionally, Eden has a selection of TV projects in early development and is looking forward to adding more to his creative slate in 2021.

 

LINDA DUNCAN MCLAUGHLIN

Linda is currently writing for BBC Scotland's flagship drama, River City, and is an award-winning playwright, novelist and screenwriter. She's had several audio-stories commissioned for BBC Digital Learning, ‘Time for a Story’, and has written for BBC Alba’s FUNC and story-contributed on Waterloo Road. Her debut novel, Original Sins, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award, and was recently announced as runner-up in the Grindstone International Novel Prize; and her play, Descent, was nominated for Best New Play (CATS Awards), and won a Spirit of the Fringe award. She’s had a number of short stories published - most recently, Fly, Sissy in the Edinburgh International Prize anthology. She’s also a graduate of Glasgow Caledonian's MATV and a professional actor.

Linda's currently working on an adaptation of Original Sins for TV; a YA story, Winging It, about a young woman who begins to grow a pair of wings; and Sub Rosa, a new four-part TV thriller about a female undercover officer caught up in the 2010s outing scandal.

 

KIRSTY MCNEIL

Kirsty is a Glasgow born writer who graduated from Caledonian University with an MA in Television Fiction Writing. Her 60-minute one-off drama Moira and Margaret was longlisted for the 2019 BBC Writersroom’s Drama room. She has also developed and written a pilot for an original continuing drama based around the Circuit in Glasgow. She’s currently Script Secretary at BBC Scotland’s River City. She has also been involved in generating both factual and scripted online content for River City’s Social Media Team. She was involved in co-writing an online commission for River City surrounding child sexual abuse and grooming. During lockdown, she wrote a monologue for River City character Bernie, which was received well on River City’s Social Media accounts. Most recently Kirsty has been given the opportunity to write a shadow script for River City. Starting in April she’ll be joining the Story Room, at River City, as a trainee story liner.

 

MARA MENZIES

Mara is an award-winning performance storyteller based in Edinburgh. She has written and toured several storytelling shows over the last few years, the latest Blood and Gold being presented as part of the Made in Scotland Showcase 2019. It was nominated for the Filipa Braganca award and continues to tour in 2020. Mara has toured and opened the Lagos International Theatre Festival in 2018. She will be the International Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Centre in Jonesborough, Tennessee in October 2020 and is an invited speaker at the 2020 Clinton Global Initiative University on digital storytelling. She is also currently working with The Royal Lyceum Theatre developing a script of the alternative story of British heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua.

 

SHERRY MORRIS

Sherry is a prize-winning flash and short story writer originally from the American Midwest now living in the Highlands. Since 2015, she has had over sixty short stories and flash fiction pieces published online or in literary journals and has recently transitioned into script writing. Highlights in 2020 include a shortlisted play about the #MeToo Movement with Pint-sized Plays, and an ongoing collaboration with Kilter Theatre where her humorous story about rude Christmas lights was performed on Bristol doorsteps in December. She will work again with Kilter in April 2021 with a surreal story about a woman who falls in love with a bear. Previous performance work includes a black comedy monologue about a misguided superhero and his cancer-sniffing dog with London’s The Space theatre which received a four-star review. Sherry has also written a comedic sex-positive story featuring women over 50 that won an award. During her time as a Scottish Voice she wrote short scripts starring strippers who cope with the pandemic in novel ways and a charming female barber who collects her clients’ hair for inventive purposes. Sherry likes to write quirky stories about women who find their own alternative way in a man’s world and is delighted that Arachne Press intend to publish a collection of her stories in 2021 because she thinks spiders are tops.

Currently, she is writing a comedy drama that flits between Kansas and Scotland about donuts, dogs and drag queens.

 

HANNAH ELIZABETH MORTON

Hannah is a twenty-eight-year-old, Glasgow based, up in coming actor/playwright. After studying acting at City of Glasgow College and touring with Children’s theatre groups Theatre& and Kapow! Theatre Scotland, she moved into writing comedy. Hannah started writing sketches when she was a part of critical acclaimed, all female, comedy collective sketch group “Witsherface”, starring alongside comedy power houses, such as Karen Dunbar and Maureen Carr. She wrote and performed her first play A Work in Progress with the Guilded Balloon at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival to rave reviews, before it moved in 2019 to the Glasgow comedy festival to sold out audiences. In 2020 she was in development with her new play Sad Girls Club, which sadly had to be put on hold because of the pandemic. The play takes a comical look at what makes young women sad in modern day Scotland. Hannah is dedicated to giving a voice to the youth of today who feel “A bit lost in the world” through her writing.

Recently Hannah, made the leap into writing for camera, when she was commissioned by BBC Short Stuff. Her debut sketch "Cusp" was released last year, with sketches "A Total Boys Club", "Alone With My Thoughts" and "People Pleaser" to follow. She returned to the fringe this year in which she wrote and starred in her own show 'Sad Girls Club' at the gilded Balloon. With sold out shows and multiple 4 star reviews, you'll feel like a Sad Girl that you missed it.

 

LYNSEY MURDOCH

Agent: Christina Pickworth at Imagine Talent (UK); Sarah Arnott at Zero Gravity Management (US).

Lynsey is an award winning playwright, her work has been performed at venues such as The Arches and the Tron Theatre. A Glasgow native, Lynsey’s short film Eat Me was directed by the award winning Tom Shrapnel and her second short, Goon was directed by David Goodall and starred Jane McCarry (BBC's Still Game). Her debut TV pilot The Roar was named in the Top 100 script at Content London 2017 as well as making the Top 10 Drama Scripts list on Coverfly. Her play for young people, Escape Speed, was developed with support from the National Theatre of Scotland. Lynsey was selected for the London Screenwriter's Festival Talent Campus 2018 and shortlisted for the BAFTA Rocliffe Film showcase 2018. Lynsey is currently in development with Blazing Griffin Productions on an original TV drama and with Pirate Productions on an original horror feature film. Last year, Lynsey was selected for the EIFF Talent Lab with her feature project Little Hazard which is now in development with Inceptive Films. This year, she was longlisted for the Sundance Episodic Lab and gained representation with Zero Gravity Management in the US.

 

RUARAIDH MURRAY

Ruaraidh’s critically acclaimed shows Big Sean, Mikey and Me, Bath Time and Boxman (Diana Rigg Edfringe Award) and plays Allie (BBC Scriptroom Drama Finalist) and The Club premiered at Gilded Balloon Edfringe 2012-16, toured Scotland, England, Vault Festival, Park Theatre London and Under St. Marks Theater New York. He starred in award-winning feature Night Bus (BFI LFF Official Selection), Trainspotting (UK Tour), Borgia (Netflix) and Bob Servant (BBC). Development: TV Drama Highlifers (BBC Scottish Voices), TV Comedy Drama Salt ‘N’ Sauce (co-writer Megan Shandley), short film The Finger and feature films Edinburgh Chosen Few and No Trees on Tiree (EP Douglas Mackinnon). The pitch for his drama T is for Tracksuit is shortlisted to be commissioned by BBC Audio Drama Wales.

 

UMA NADA-RAJAH

Agent: Giles Smart, United Agents

Uma is a playwright based in Kilbarchan. She is the current 2021 Writer- in- Residence at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and was recently Female Political Comedy writer- in- residence at the National Theatre of Scotland. She is a graduate of École Philippe Gaulier and the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers Group. Uma is a previous winner of the New Playwrights Award from Playwrights’ Studio Scotland and currently works as a staff nurse with NHS Scotland.

 

AMELIA NASHE

Amelia is an award-winning screenwriter, new playwright, published poet and short story author. Originally Cotswoldian, she moved to Glasgow to complete the MA TV Fiction Writing course and never left. She has written and produced two short films - What The Cat Dragged In (Best Screenplay, CKF International Film Festival March 2019, co-produced with CotswoldTV), and The Flame, made in lockdown. Both available to view on SVoD service, Indie-clips. A third short film script was long-listed for BBC Writersroom’s InterConnected, from almost 7,000 entries.
Amelia’s play for teenagers, Blood Ties, was programmed in the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2020, and is currently being rescheduled due to Covid. She has explored comedy via sketches for Witsherface and jokes for BBC Scotland’s Breaking the News.
Amelia is currently developing a spoof film noir stage musical with MTN and MMD, a comedy drama TV spec and is in talks with international indies and broadcasters on a paranormal crime drama series. Common themes in her work include mental health, climate change, and the power of play. When she’s not writing she’s subtitling a vast range of British TV output in her work for Red Bee Media, and working as the Ambassador and Head of K Studios, the film and TV department of a global sustainable development company, K Enterprises."

 

GEORGIA NELSON

Georgia is an award-winning playwright who’s play Soft Boy won the ELT and National Newspaper’s playwriting prize. Originally from Edinburgh, Georgia grew up in New Delhi in an international school environment. Her international background inspires her writing which often explores cultural intersections that can exist at once. She began developing her writing while living in Hull during the City of Culture 2017 year. Her work was showcased as part of Hull Truck Theatre’s GROW festival and within the City of Culture 2017 programme. Based in Glasgow and working as a freelance theatre practitioner and director, Georgia devises youth theatre and community projects across Scotland. Georgia is eager to tell stories that reflect Scotland’s diversity. More recently, she worked in the writers room for an upcoming young adult drama with Balloon Entertainment for BBC. She is also developing several sketches for BBC Short Stuff, and ghostwriting similar short form content for individual social media platforms.

 

ALISON O’DONNELL

Alison has been a professional actor for 15 years, working across theatre, TV and radio and is in the very beginning stages of pursuing a career in writing. In 2019 her first sitcom script, co-written with fellow Scottish Voices member Tara Hepburn, got to the interview stage for BBC Comedy Room. She is currently working on a sitcom pilot and a Christmas-themed romantic comedy film set in Glasgow.

 

MHAIRI QUINN

Mhairi is a Glasgow based theatre and screenwriter and has had work performed at the Tron, Traverse, Assembly Roxy, Dundee Rep, The CCA and Oran Mor. A finalist of the Tron Theatre’s Progressive Playwright Award with her play ‘The Bridge Street Flats’. Her short play Preparing for the Afterlife was commissioned and directed by Andy Arnold for the Take Me Somewhere festival. Mhairi has written comedies for In Motion Theatre Company's Winter Words and ReWrite Festivals. She was selected for the Mentoring Programme by the Playwrights Studio Scotland to develop her play ‘Politics of the White Stuff’ under the mentorship of playwright Morna Pearson. Mhairi makes up one third of The Tandem Writing Collective with her new work showing at the Tron and Traverse in April and May this year.

Mhairi was one of BBC Writersrooom’s ‘Scottish Voices 2020’ cohort. Her short film script ‘Little White Lies’ was shortlisted by Underwire Festival and co-produced by INDELIBLE INK through the Glasgow Film Accelerator Scheme run by Sigma Films and the SFTN. Mhairi is currently developing two comedy series pilots for TV and has a range of experience in writing for younger audiences. In 20/21 she was part of the writing team for Winduna Enterprises LTD’s new children’s show ‘Winnie and Wilbur’ based on the best-selling books by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul for Milkshake! on Channel 5. Interest in her submission for the CBBC’s Children’s Comedy Monologues opportunity led her to be invited onto the ‘BBC Children’s New Voices Scheme’ for 2021. Most recently, Mhairi was credited for her work as part of a BBC writers’ room for the development of their new ‘CBeebies Presents’ show. Following this she was then recommended by Kay Benbow (ex CBBC Controller) to be part of the development and writers’ room for Three Stones Media’s ‘Attention Action Ayshia’ which was funded by the BFI’s Young Audience Content Fund. Mhairi is a drama and pastoral care teacher and works closely with many Glasgow based theatre companies such as Solar Bear and Wonder Fools. Mhairi writes and performs spoken word poetry and she can communicate in British Sign Language.

 

AMNA SALEEM

Agent: Matthew Dench, Dench Arnold

Amna is a Scottish Pakistani screenwriter based in Glasgow with original series TV projects in development with Hat Trick, Blazing Griffin and FilmNation. Her first pilot (BETA FEMALE), was performed as a live table read sponsored by Sky featuring Nina Wadia and later broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2019. Beta Female was then recommissioned for a full series with a transmission date of the 5th of January 2021. Amna's script, Psychic Overload, was one of only ten chosen, from a record breaking 6408 submissions after a BBC Writers Room nationwide call out. The resulting short, was produced and shot entirely over video chat in keeping with the rules of lockdown. She has also written sketches for Channel 4 and BBC Short Stuff. Amna is also a journalist, broadcaster and author. Her work can be found in publications such as the Guardian, BBC News, Huffpost and Glamour. As a broadcaster she has been featured on the BBC, SKY and ITV amongst others. She was also featured in two literary anthologies and her first ever Tedx Talk is available online.  Her parents are still waiting for her to get a real job.

 

NASREEN SARAEI

Nasreen (Nas) is a 2017 1st class BA Film graduate from Screen Academy Scotland and Brooklyn College NYC. Following her degree, she worked as an Intern Producer at Edinburgh Napier University, producing award winning short films for The Scottish Prison Service and The National Museum of Scotland. Nas was selected for The SFTN Writer/Director New Voices on Screen Lab 2016 and The Edinburgh TV Festival's Network Talent Scheme 2017 where she wrote and directed a scene with the cast and crew of Casualty. She has written, produced and directed the short films IS THIS IT?- selected and screened at Glasgow Short Film Festival 2018 and winner of Best Film at Girls on Film 2018, and HEARTS- selected and screened at The Scottish Queer International Film Festival 2018, The Scottish Short Film Festival 2019 and winner of Campbell X's Wahala Film Fund. In 2019, Nas was awarded a scholarship from the NFTS Scotland - Writing the TV Pilot- developing her pilot episode, CARPET ARMS, which was a Quarter-finalist in the Screencraft 2021 TV Pilot Competition and a Semi-finalist of WeScreenplay's 2021 Diverse Voices Competition. CARPET ARMS was then commissioned by UKTV as part of Comedy 50:50’s Female Writing Initiative 2021/22 is now currently in development with Eleven Film.

Nas was also recently commissioned for BBC Short Stuff, has been in a development writers' room with Beano Studios, and was selected for The Young Film Foundation Development Scheme 2021/22. Her second pilot, SUCK IT UP, was commissioned by BBC and is in development with Bonafide Films.

 

KARELIA SCOTT-DANIELS

Karelia Scott-Daniels is a commissioned writer for BBC Doctors and is in development with a US producer to write a children's comedy Christmas film. She is a Scottish screenwriter living in Port Glasgow and has written and directed five short films, one of which had a theatrical release. Her work has placed in a plethora of writing and film competitions including Austin, Page, Screencraft, Euroscript, Blue Cats and others.

Prior to embarking on a writing career, she launched an award-winning property business from scratch, was Chairman of the Central London branch committee of the Institute of Directors and was made a Freeman of the City of London, which entitles her to drive her sheep over London Bridge.  By nature a cathartic writer, she writes witty emotional family drama and thrillers with laugh out loud moments and intriguing characters. She is particularly interested in themes of injustice, mental health and ways in which to make the world a better place.

This is a link to her most recent broadcast episode:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0015g0t/doctors-series-23-19-in-loco-parentis

 

ASHLEY STORRIE

Agent: Corrie McGuire, Corrie Maguire Management

Ashley is an award-winning comedian, writer, presenter and content creator. Ashley’s online work has amassed over 40 million views across her own channels, BBC Scotland’s Short Stuff and Channel 4’s Sparks. Her writing credits include two radio pilots “Cat’s Crime” and “Conundrums My Dad Says”, both broadcast on Radio Scotland and 5 Edinburgh Fringe shows. She has a BA in film making and is currently developing several long-form scripted projects. She is the star of BBC Scotland’s Up For It! which returns for its second series in 2020, and has a radio show on Radio Scotland. She has also appeared on The Blame Game (BBC NI), Breaking The News (BBC Scotland) and Fred MacAulay Live At The Stand (BBC Radio 4).

 

MANJOT SUMAL

Glasgow based actor-writer Manjot is best known for playing the role of PC Surjit Singh in BBC Scotland’s BAFTA award winning sketch-sitcom Scot Squad, and Mr Wasu in CBBC’s The Demon Headmaster. A former radio presenter/producer, Manjot wrote, produced and performed in sketch show The CraZians and sitcom Da Southsiderz, for radio station Awaz FM.

In 2012 Manjot co-wrote his first play How To Make A Killing In Bollywood. The play toured extensively throughout the UK and played to rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Manjot is currently writing a sitcom pilot and screenplay for his second feature for the Punjabi film market. He is also developing TV treatments for a dark Scottish-Asian comedy, a coming-of-age mini-series and a psychological horror series.

 

JOERN UTKILEN

Originally from Norway, but based in Scotland, Joern is an award winning writer and director who graduated from both the Edinburgh College of Art and Screen Academy Scotland. He has written and directed a range of films that have been presented at numerous international film festivals and broadcast on several television channels. Joern gained a BAFTA Scotland nomination for his controversial film Little Red Hoodie. His black comedy Asylum, funded by Film 4, was in 2011 nominated for an Amanda. In 2018 Joern completed his first feature length film, Lake Over Fire, an experimental film showing in competition at the Munich international film festival.

Joern is currently developing various new projects including a new feature film and a comedy crime TV series, both supported by the Norwegian Film Institute. He is also developing a new TV comedy series with Channel X Hopscotch.

 

If you wish to wish to make contact with any of the Scottish Voices Writers Click Here to contact BBC Writersroom

 

What does it mean to be a Scottish Voice? Find out below from two of the 2019 alumni, Niki Rooney and Maryam Hamidi.

Niki Rooney

There have been a few things I didn’t expect to get out of the Scottish Voices group. First of all, the amount of opportunities to pitch for paid work with actual credits. I’d never considered doing anything for radio before, so getting the chance to write a BBC Learning audio story and a CBBC podcast took me out of my comfort zone in a positive way. I’d never considered sketch writing either, but I also ended up writing an episode of Swashbuckle and taking part in a shadow scheme for The Dumping Ground has led to a commission for the show. Being part of the Scottish Voices group added credibility to my name, and I’m definitely seeing the benefits of that reflected in the amount of interest I’ve had in me and my work recently.

I also didn’t expect to meet so many other writers and become friends with them! In such an isolated, freelance career, it often feels like you’re screaming into a silent void. Now we all scream into a WhatsApp group and support each other through the ups and downs of writing life, as well as sharing advice and information about what’s going on in the industry. For me, that sense of community has been one of the most valuable additions to my career over the last year and a half! It’s been a fantastic an opportunity and the BBC Writersroom team work really hard to support emerging writers and open doors for us that might otherwise feel impossible to access. The TV industry can feel quite unwelcoming at times, so it's brilliant to have advocates for fresh (Scottish) voices, to ensure that they are heard.

Maryam Hamidi

The Scottish Voices group is not an egotistical show boat or about looking good on twitter. It’s a very practical gig with real opportunities which is a bit unsettling after rattling around this industry trying to prise open its doors. Like a lot of good things that happen they creep up unexpectedly. Sitting in the Scottish Voices Writers Hub room at BBC Glasgow as we tap out various adventures for screen has been one of the most revelatory experiences for me. What? Sharing opportunities with other writers is nourishing? Celebrating their successes is fun? Having writers around you who take an incisive interest in your work is beneficial? Yes reader, these rhetorical questions are getting embarrassing now. Sorry, I’ll stop. Good things have happened for me. I have managed to wrangle some meetings and convince producers to allow me to write for CBeebies. I had a radio comedy pilot produced. I think some other things happened - but it’s all a joyful blur now. I have built really brilliant friendships with other writers who often attend events together for the ulterior aim of getting a drink together afterwards, but how lovely to not show up at free wine events on your tod, but strut in slo-mo flanked by pals.

Ultimately though, my writing’s got better. Almost imperceptibly at first and then one day you wake up and all that confidence, nurturing and talent championing has given you the space and time and support to believe in your work, your skills and your voice - and that’s the tipping point. Writing for TV and Film is one continuous merry dance between success and failure, and sharing the successes and failures with fellow writers is way healthier than doing it all on your own.

SCOTTISH VOICES – COMEDY GROUP

Brian McIver

Agent: Marc Simonsson, MMB Creative

Brian is a comedy/ drama screenwriter with years of national newspaper experience covering intriguing stories all over the world. He is now working to bring some of those influences and inspirations to television comedy and drama. He wrote a Glasgow Film Theatre commissioned comedy short, Fantasy Football, and was awarded a distinction in screenwriting from Screen Academy Scotland for a family sitcom pilot and has been in the final stages of three BBC Writersroom script opportunities. As a member of BBC Scottish Voices 2018/19, he has had a sketch commissioned for BBC Radio Four’s Sketchtopia comedy series and an audio story produced for the BBC Digital Learning Time for a Story strand called The Parrot Who Lost His Pirate. His play Fissures was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in 2020.

Brian is currently working on several new TV comedy projects and was shortlisted for Channel 4's 4Screenwriting 2020 programme and the All3Media New Comedy Script Award at Edinburgh TV Festival's New Voice Awards 2020. His comedy drama series Careless is in development at Lime Picture having been optioned by an Emmy award-winning producer.

 

Colin McLaren

Agent: Emily Hickman, The Agency.

Colin is a BAFTA winning screenwriter. He wrote the film The Legend of Barney Thomson directed by Robert Carlyle and the film DONKEYS starring James Cosmo, Martin Compston & Kate Dickie and both films won Scottish BAFTAs for best film. He wrote HOME, winning the BAFTA for best short. In 2018, Colin was shortlisted for the Comedy Writer’s Programme and his radio sitcom pilot Weekend Survivalist was developed for Radio Scotland with the BBC Writersroom and transmitted in Spring 2018. He is currently developing a number of films and TV projects.

 

Fiona Connor

A BA graduate, Fiona is an award winning playwright whose work has been performed at The Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow. She has written a range of fantasy books and her first piece of writing for screen won The Biggest Weekend Monologue opportunity in 2018. Her monologue, Something Blue, was produced by the BBC Writersroom and well received across social media. Fiona is currently working on new screenplay with a focus on strong female characters and unique comical stories and her audio story The Wee Shop of Magic was commissioned for the BBC Digital Learning Time for a Story strand and is now available online via the Time for a Story page.

 

Gillian McCormack

Agent: Georgia Kanner, Independent Talent Group

Gillian is a Scottish writer from Glasgow, currently a participant on BBC Writersroom’s Drama Room 2021/22. She has a project in development with Emanata Studios (formerly Beano Studios) and two of her own original ideas are in development with Balloon Entertainment, with one of these projects, Savage, recently optioned for further development by a Global SVOD.

In 2021, she was part of the Writer’s Room for a new untitled Balloon Entertainment project and also part of the script writing team for Secret Cinema’s Stranger Things. Her script Rewind was a finalist in the Thousand Films Competition 2021, run by Sid Gentle and Edinburgh TV Festival. Selected as a participant of the inaugural BBC Writersroom Scottish Voices writers group in 2018, she received her first credit with a comedy short Poo Girl which was produced by BBC Scotland and BBC Writersroom and received her post grad diploma in script development from the National Film and TV School the same year.

Gillian loves telling darkly comic stories that combine people and characters who are relatable with something a little bit out of the ordinary. When she is not writing she works in events and PR in the music and entertainment industry.

 

Justin Lee Anderson & Juliet Cavanagh Anderson

Justin and Juliet met when they both entered the BBC's Last Laugh writing competition, in which Justin was a runner-up. They began writing sketches together, moving on to sitcom, drama and film scripts. Their biggest project to date was adapting Julian May's epic novel, The Many-Coloured Land, into a film script for an independent producer. In 2019 their audio story The Great Bumpkin King was commissioned and produced for the BBC Digital Learning Time for a Story strand. They are currently working on an adaptation of Justin’s debut novel, Carpet Diem, which won an Audie Award for humour in 2018. The Lost War, Justin’s latest book, was published in 2019.

 

Taqi Nazeer & Kawser Quamer

Taqi is an accomplished stage actor and has a BA in Acting from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Taqi began writing after being frustrated by the lack of diverse Scottish stories being told and was accepted on to the National Theatre of Scotland’s Breakthrough Writers’ Scheme. His first play, Rishta, a comedy about navigating the unpredictable world of an arranged marriage was a sold out success in 2017. He is currently writing a new stage play.

Kawser is an award-winning journalist and reporter, as well as an accomplished television and radio presenter, most often seen presenting for BBC Scotland. Kawser is a keen comedy writer and is currently finishing her debut fictional novel.

Together, Taqi and Kawser created and produced Scotistan a very popular podcast on BBC Sounds which was commissioned by The BBC Asian Network, with Taqi as one of the main presenters. Most recently they have been writing sketches for BBC Scotland’s comedy Scots Squad. Together with Taqi, she is currently developing an idea for a new Scottish sitcom and a screenplay for a feature film.

 

Kevin P Gilday

Kevin is an award-winning writer and spoken word artist from Glasgow. He is the curator and co-host of spoken word cabaret Sonnet Youth, a National Theatre of Scotland Breakthrough Writer and a BBC Writersroom Scottish Voice. Kevin has performed his work all over the world at a range of major festivals including BBC 6Music Festival and Glastonbury, at various Fringes such as Edinburgh, Toronto, and Vancouver as well as large scale tours of the UK, Germany, Canada and the US. He has supported artists such as Akala, Saul Williams, Sage Francis, Alabaster DePlume and George the Poet. He has published four books of poetry, with his most recent - Sad Songs for White Boys (published by Speculative Books) - bringing together nearly ten years of work. His Edinburgh fringe show Suffering from Scottishness played to critical acclaim this year gaining a four star review from The Scotsman, amongst others. His theatre work has been performed at a range of Scottish venues including Oran Mor, Tron Theatre, Assembly Roxy, Lemon Tree, Byre Theatre, Beacon Arts Centre and Eden Court as well as venues further afield such as The Revue Stage (Vancouver) and Tarragon Theatre (Toronto). He has twice been shortlisted for the Scottish Short Play of the Year Award.

 

Kevin Walls

Agent: Peter MacFarlane, MacFarlane Chard Associates

Kevin attended the Glasgow School of Art where he wrote and directed his first short film, Identical. The science fiction film was awarded the British Academy Scotland New Talent Award for Sound in 2015. He has just graduated as student of the year on the MA TV Fiction Writing programme at Glasgow Caledonian University with a scholarship from Warner Bros. Creative Talent.

Kevin recently wrote and directed a short comedy monologue, When Pish Comes to Shove, for BBC Writersroom and BBC Scotland and was commissioned to script for a new Digital Drama Pilot Scheme for BBC Scotland in 2019. Kevin’s short film When Abbie Met Emmy premiered at BFI Southbank for BFI Flare in 2019.  He is currently co-developing a comedy-drama web series for BBC Scotland and an international broadcaster.

 

Liam Hollywood

Liam graduated from the University of the West of Scotland with a BA (Hons) in Filmmaking and Screen Writing. His feature length screenplay ‘Sweet Nothing’, a thriller described as “The Graduate meets Fatal Attraction”, was selected by writer-director Eleanor Yule for the Best Screenplay Award at the 2014 UWS Showcase Awards. His latest short film 'Living Arrangement', a relationship drama about a father and daughter, is currently being considered by film festivals around the UK & Europe. He was shortlisted by BBC Writersroom for The Biggest Weekend 2018 and has recently received credit for material featured on BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Newsjack. He is currently writing a television drama pilot and developing his first written stage play.

 

Maryam Hamidi

Maryam’s a Scottish based writer and an experienced actor working across stage, screen and radio. Her first short film, Bloody Love, a zombie romantic drama, was developed through Scottish Film Talent Network’s while her short film script Bahar was part of the SFTN’s Scottish Shorts programme 2017. She was awarded Fire Exit’s Pyromania award for her play End of and a Playwright's Studio New Playwrights Award for her play Moonset which she is adapting for screen with Blue Iris Productions. She co-wrote Amnesty Award nominated The Chronicles of Irania which she also performed and she is co-writing a 360 degree film and live performance, Nervous: Stories to Save your Life for Unlimited Theatre and 4Pi productions.

She was one of three writers selected to take part in the Sky TV table read programme and her sitcom pilot, Slipping was read as in conjunction with GMAC. Her first radio sitcom pilot Drivetime was developed for Radio Scotland with the BBC Writersroom and transmitted in Spring 2018. She has now written sketches for the radio comedy series Sketchtopia and has written multiple episodes for Series 1 & 2 of CBeebies live action Molly and Mack. Maryam was also one of 12 shortlisted writers for the BBC Writersroom Comedy Writers’ Programme 2018. Maryam is part of the BBC Writersroom Scottish Voices Comedy for 2018/19 and is currently part of various development/writers rooms for a range of shows including Scotch Production's sitcom Talibams and Molly & Mack and Biff, Chip and Kipper for CBeebies.

 

Morna Pearson

Agent: Charlotte Knight, Knighthall Agency

Morna Pearson is an Elgin-born Edinburgh-based playwright and screenwriter. She has been a recipient of the Channel 4 Playwright Scheme and the Meyer-Whitworth Award. Her first short film I Was Here (SFTN) was a BAFTA Scotland and an EIFF nominee for Best Short Film. Past theatre productions include plays for Traverse Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland, National Theatre Connections, Catherine Wheels, Lung Ha Theatre Company, Grid Iron, Dogstar, Frozen Charlotte, and A Play, A Pie & A Pint. She has written two radio plays for BBC. Current projects include a pilot sitcom script for BBC Studios, and a play for the National Theatre of Scotland. Morna was also shortlisted for the Comedy Writers’ Programme 2018 and one of eight writers shortlisted for the Drama Pilot Scheme for BBC Scotland. Most recently Morna was selected for selected for the EIFF Talent Lab 2021.

 

Niki Rooney

Agent: Hannah Porter & Freddie Best, United Agents

Niki started her career on Hollyoaks, where she progressed quickly through the ranks, until she was Head of the Story Department by the age of 24. She later joined the core writing team, writing 20 episodes over two years.

Since then, Niki has written 4 episodes of Nickelodeon’s Ride, for Breakthrough Entertainment and Buccaneer Media. She created all of the live shows for CBeebies Land at Alton Towers, working on live action shows and immersive interactive experiences for brands such as The Furchester, Octonauts, Postman Pat, Bing, Hey Duggee, Mike the Knight, Mr Bloom’s Garden and most recently, Teletubbies! She was also commissioned to write a tween comedy horror podcast pilot called Bump In The Night for CBBC and her audio story Thistle and the Circle of Champions was commissioned for BBC Learning. She was also a core member of the writers room for Ben Chanan’s new Sky Atlantic show You, which is being produced by Kudos.

In 2020, Niki is writing an episode of Swashbuckle for CBeebies, and has been commissioned to write an episode of CBBC’s flagship show The Dumping Ground after successfully participating in the Writers Room’s shadow scheme. She is also writing an episode of a brand new CBBC show created by Dan Berlinka and will be joining the writers room on a new YA drama for Bandit Television for Phillipa Giles. Niki has an original dark comedy drama pilot script, Swipe Right, in development with Mike Ellen at Freedom Scripted Entertainment. Niki also won the Kudos North Writers Award, resulting in her original comedy drama Spoonies being optioned. The series is now in development with BBC One (pilot script stage).

 

Steve Lawrence

Steve is an Edinburgh based writer with credits across comedy, drama and interactive storytelling. He was selected for the BBC Writersroom Comedy Room, the first BBC Writersroom Scottish Voices group and is a member of the BFI Network x BAFTA Crew.  Credits include BBC Comedy Online, The Essay on BBC Radio 3, The Leak on BBC Radio Wales, Newsjack, multiple sketches for the award-winning Sketchtopia on BBC Radio 4, Swashbuckle for CBeebies and a sketch starring Mel & Sue for Red Nose Day 2021.

He recently shot a series of tasters with director James Kayler (Catherine Tate’s Hard Cell) and Burning Reel Productions for a sitcom starring Kieran Hodgson, Stevie Martin and Thanyia Moore and has a couple of other projects in development with exciting comedy talent attached.
Steve also has experience in the world of interactive storytelling with creative technology company Charisma Ai, most recently writing on a demo for a major Warner Brothers property. He’s a lifelong comic book fan and has written for the character Nemesis as part of Mark Millar’s Millarworld universe.

 

Tom Worsley

Agent: Dominic Lord, JFL Agency

Tom is a comedy and children’s writer based in Glasgow, originally from Gloucestershire. He gained his first credits in 2008 on a Channel 4 Comedy Lab sketch pilot and the subsequent series School of Comedy. Since moving to Scotland he was later a contributor to BBC Radio Scotland’s Breaking the News and in 2017 was a finalist In the Nickelodeon Writing Programme.

Tom's 15 minute radio comedy Sue & John was developed by the BBC Writersroom and transmitted on BBC Radio Scotland in Spring 2019. Sue & John was later nominated for a Celtic Media Festival Award 2020 in the Radio Comedy category. He has written for the latest 2 series of the CBeebies comedy gameshow Swashbuckle and was previously one of three writers commissioned to develop and write an original 10 minute script for a Children’s Podcast opportunity. He was also a commissioned story writer for BBC Scotland’s comedy Scot Squad in 2019 and again in 2021. Tom is currently pursuing further writing opportunities for children’s productions.

 

SCOTTISH VOICES – DRAMA GROUP

Ali Taylor

Agent: Jean Kitson, Kitson Press

Ali was awarded a place on the inaugural The Writers’ Lab UK & Ireland 2021, part funded by Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films. She regularly writes for BBC Scotland's continuing drama, River City and was shortlisted for Sky’s Best Debut Writer Award in 2021 for her work for the show. Her Radio 4 Afternoon Play ‘The Apple, The Tree’ was Pick of the Week and she has written two other original radio dramas, produced by Kirsty Williams as well as a radio sitcom pilot, produced through BBC Writersroom. She has written for children’s, including Molly & Mack, and was also a participant on the Young Film Foundation 2019. She has twice been shortlisted for the BBC Writer’s Prize for Drama and continues to develop her own original work.

 

Apphia Campbell

Apphia is originally from Florida and after graduating from college she moved to New York where she performed Off-Broadway. In 2013 she wrote her critically acclaimed piece, Black Is The Color Of My Voice and opened in Shanghai to rave reviews before performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014 where it sold out and continued to sell out on a UK wide tour.

In 2017, her new show with Meredith Yarbrough, Woke, was presented as part of the Made In Scotland Showcase, won a Scotsman Fringe First, a Highly Commended award from Amnesty International, and was shortlisted for The Filipa Bragança Award and Scottish Art Club Theatre Award. In 2018, she continued to tour Woke and was featured in the guardians 50 shows to see at the fringe and Vogue’s 5 shows not to miss in 2018 fringe. In 2019, she made her west end debut with Black Is The Color Of My Voice which had rave reviews and a sold-out run. She also had a London premiere of Woke at Battersea Arts Centre which had a successful run. She has recently been commissioned for an audio story for the BBC Digital Learning Time for a Story strand 2019.

 

Charlie Ward

Agent: Katie Williams, The Agency

Charlie is a Glasgow-based writer. He is currently writing a television pilot, An Evening With… for 1A Productions and developing a radio play, The Book of Jamie for BBC Radio Scotland and was invited to join the BBC Writersroom Drama Group for 2018/19. In 2017 he completed his feature, Out There and his play AlphaMail was included in the Tron 100 Festival at the Tron Theatre. He graduated from the MA Television Writing course in Glasgow courtesy of a scholarship from Shed Productions.

 

Declan Dineen

Agent : Jennifer Thomas, United Agents

Declan is a writer originally from South Wales now based in Glasgow. He is currently focussing on a varied slate of projects, including a sci-fi audio series for Echoverse, a horror TV series for World Productions, and his feature film debut Bloom which is being supported by EIFF Talent Lab Connects. He has previously written for the radio and stage, including the BBC afternoon play Finding Love at the End of the world. Prior to focussing on fiction, Declan worked as a freelance writer with a diverse portfolio across multiple magazines and web sites.

He has a keen interest in technology and its role in telling stories. In 2020 he worked with Story Futures on their VR Lab, and worked with ISO design on various projects from interactive commercials to playful museum displays. This interest in tech comes largely from his love of video games, best illustrated by Checkpoints, a podcast he created and hosted from 2016 to 2019, in which he interviewed various videogame luminaries about the games that shaped their life. Because it's important to have something to fall back on, he is also a magician. He's written and performed several magic shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, and a sell out show called #meetandtweet based on an idle whim he had to meet everyone who followed him on twitter, which inexplicably became international news for a weekend in 2015.

 

Jane Livingstone

Jane won a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award for Best Writer in 1996 for her screenplay Roses of Picardy, written during her 20 year career in corporate communications. She gained a Masters in Creative Writing in 2014 and her first play, Thieves of Dunfermline, was staged in the same year. She has had four commissions for A Play, A Pie and a Pint, including the award winning Jocky Wilson Said, which have been performed in Glasgow, Aberdeen and at the Edinburgh Festival. Jane received a Playwrights Studio Partnership Award to develop a full length original play, The Quarry, with an abridged version of this play being broadcast on Radio 4 in 2022. She is currently working on her first short film as writer and director.

 

Jaimini Jethwa

Jaimini has worked as a writer, independent filmmaker for over twenty years after graduating from film-school in London. She wrote and directed several short films including No Dowry No Date and Careless which screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and international screenings. Her documentary Stigmadies won the best short Documentary Film at the SEE ME Mental Health Film Festival 2007 while her documentary Teen Mum, gained over a million views on You Tube. Her theatre writing includes Last Queen of Scotland with National Theatre Scotland, Stellar Quines and Dundee Rep which sold out Edinburgh Fringe 2017. She has been short-listed for Hollyoaks, River City, and Casualty and mentored by BBC Films for first feature film ’Dancing Shiva’. She has recently been working on the R4 sketch series, Sketchtopia, Radio drama ideas and on a new play at The Royal Lyceum. Jaimini was recently shortlisted for a Radio Scotland Comedy Opportunity.

 

Kate Bowen

Kate was the 2012 winner of the annual New Writer's Award (Playwright's Studio Scotland) and participant in the 2013 Traverse 50 programme at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. She was awarded a place on the Channel 4 Playwrights’ Scheme in 2016 and a Starter for Ten residency from the National Theatre of Scotland in 2017. Her short plays have been performed at The Traverse Theatre (The Prize Fighter), Glasgow's Play, Pie and a Pint (The Lawyers) and on STV (Super Sunday). Her first full length play, Close Quarters, was put on by Stockroom in a co-production with Sheffield Theatres in 2018, directed by Kate Wasserberg; and was named by The Observer as one of their top ten theatre productions of 2018.

She was nominated by Stockroom for the James Tait Prize in 2019; and in the same year a production of Close Quarters was staged at RADA in London directed by Zoe Ford-Burnett. In 2020 she worked alongside Tod Productions and STV to develop a sixty minute drama pilot, Storm Warning for the BBC, and was awarded a grant by Playwright’s Studio Scotland to develop a new project with Director/Dramaturg Lu Kemp and Sound Designer Zoe Irvine. 2022 started with her undertaking a six week attachment at the New Work department of the National Theatre, London, to create a new stage play.

 

Mariem Omari

Mariem lived and worked across the Middle East and North Africa for five years, and during that time worked with refugees and survivors of violence. She has since committed to promoting stories that are not often heard to advocate for greater equality. Her first play, If I Had A Girl..., on honour violence in Asian communities in Scotland, sold-out in Glasgow in 2016, and toured nationally in 2017. She was one of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Starter for 10, selected to develop her play, One Mississippi, which showcased at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2017, and will be touring Scotland in 2022.

She had three commissioned plays in 2019 – The Trojans, performed by Syrian Refugees; her first children’s play, Paper Memories, which was part of the 2019 National Puppetry and Animation Festival; and Walkin’ the Line as part of SMHAF 2019. In 2021 she was commissioned by BBC Scotland to create Breaking Point - a series of five short monologues for radio and digital platforms. Her new play, Revolution Days, about her experiences as an Aid Worker, had its world premier in November 2021. She is Co-Founder & Artistic Director of Bijli Productions, Inaugural Company in Residence at the National Theatre of Scotland.

 

Michael Lee Richardson

Agent: Louisa Minghella, Blake Friedmann

Michael is an award-winning writer based in Glasgow. His short film My Loneliness is Killing Me - about queer men, loneliness and hook-up culture, directed by Tim Courtney - has been shown at film festivals around the world, including EIFF, Outfest LA and BFI Flare. It won the 2018 Scottish BAFTA for Best Short Film and was commended for the Iris Prize 2019. His drama script Station Road was shortlisted for BBC Writersroom’s Drama Room and C21Media’s Drama Series competition, and has since been optioned.

He is currently developing a Young Adult drama project for Kindle Entertainment. In 2019, Michael was awarded a place on the Young Films Foundation residency in the Isle of Skye, where he developed Out, a drama series about queer nightlife.In 2018, he was one of 8 writers shortlisted for the Digital Drama Pilot Scheme for BBC Scotland and was invited to join the BBC Writersroom Scottish Voices Drama group. His original writing has been shortlisted for BBC Scotland’s Frank Deasy Award, the Trans Comedy Award and the BAFTA Rocliffe New Comedy Award. He is a Scottish Book Trust New Writer’s Award winner. His short story The Other Team appears in PROUD, and he has written children’s nonfiction for Puffin. He edited We Were Always Here, an anthology of queer Scottish writing, published by 404 Ink in January 2019. Michael’s work focuses on queer and working class characters and stories. When he isn’t writing, he is a community campaigner and works at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

 

Marcus McPeake

Marcus’s first feature-length screenplay, Oh, Danny Boyd is currently in development with producer, Wendy Griffin, and the Scottish Film Talent Network. His first short film, Your Picture Gets Mine (featuring Kate Dickie), was acquired by Channel 4 and screened as part of The Shooting Gallery, which lead to the channel commissioning a second short, For Gracie (featuring Gary Lewis). He was selected for the EIFF Talent Lab 2016, where he won 'Best Pitch'. Marcus is currently working on a new feature-length screenplay and a pilot script for a spec TV show. He was recently shortlisted for a Radio Scotland Comedy opportunity.

 

SCOTTISH VOICES – THE BREAK GROUP

Anita Vettesse

Agent : Georgina Ruffhead, The Haworth Agency

Anita co-created BBC Radio 4’s crime drama, This Thing of Darkness (Winner of the British Podcast Award 2021 and nominee for Best Writer Tinniswood 2021). She has just finished writing the latest series which can be found on BBC Sounds. Anita has also written Falling for BBC Radio Scotland. She was recently selected for the Scottish BBC Drama Writers Programme and is currently writing an original 3-part revenge thriller with BBC Studios. Anita continues to be a core writer on BBC’s River City.

Her theatre work includes: Ringroad which was nominated for best new play at The Critics Theatre Awards; Happy Hour and From The Air for Oran Mor; Eddie and The Slumber Sisters for Catherine Wheels/National Theatre of Scotland. Anita was writer in residence at National Theatre Scotland in 2021 as part of the John Mather Trust Award and written a new dark thriller, Pick Up Point. She is also currently co-writing another musical for them. Anita has just begun writing a brand new Ghost Story for Perth Theatre to be performed later this year as well as writing the book for The Big Noise; a co pro with Dundee Rep and NTS.

 

Bryce Hart

Agent: Simon Blakey, The Agency

Bryce was on the BBC Writersroom Comedy Room 2016 and listed on the BBC New Talent Hotlist 2017. He was a Writer in Residence with the Comedy Unit in Glasgow, where he wrote and developed ideas for Scot Squad as Assistant Story Producer. He has written on Only an Excuse, the BBC N.I series Soft Border Patrol, the Brexit sitcom set along the Irish border and on Wow Wales! a comedy about the Welsh tourism industry. He was one of eight writers shortlisted for The Break, Series III for BBC Three. He has had sketches commissioned for FUNC a Gaelic sketch show, BBC Alba and on the CBBC series, Class Dismissed. His teen drama Unfiltered, has also been commissioned to treatment by CBBC. Radio work includes sketches for Pam Ayre’s Radio 4 show Ayres on the Air and he was shortlisted for BBC 3’s Valentine themed sketch for FaceBook. His first radio sitcom pilot Winging It was developed for Radio Scotland with the BBC Writersroom and transmitted in Spring 2019. He is one of four writers on the BBC Writersroom Comedy Writers’ Programme and is currently developing ideas with Happy Tramp North and projects with other Indies.

 

Grace Knight

Agent : Hannah Boulton, The Agency

Grace is a Glasgow-based writer who works across TV, theatre, radio and VR work. She is one of eight recipients of the High-end Television Levy Writers’ Bursary Scheme under the mentorship of Kay Mellor. Her episode of BBC Three’s The Break, Gloss (2018), is currently available on iPlayer, and was nominated for a Broadcast Digital Award 2019 in the short form drama category. Grace's VR film is due to be released on the BBC’s new VR app. She has two Big Finish audio dramas due for release this year: a 60 minute play for their Dark Shadows range, and a 30 minute episode for their Doctor Who: Short Trips range and was recently commissioned for the Torchwood series. She has had two BBC Radio commissions including After Exile, for Radio 3 starring Julie Hesmondhalgh (2017). Her first professional stage credit was How to Cheat, and Be a Winner! at Cambridge Junction Theatre (2015) and extracts from her work have been performed at the Tron Theatre and London’s Jermyn Street Theatre. She was one of ten writers on a BBC Writersroom Children’s Residential in 2017 and was a member of the Scottish Book Trust’s highly competitive BBC Radio Lab. She was also commissioned for an original Digital Drama Pilot for BBC Scotland.

 

James Pearson

Agent : Georgina Carrigan, United Agents

James is an actor and writer whose acting credits include Lip Service (BBC/Kudos), Control (Anton Corbijn) and New Town Killers for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland. James has recently been commissioned to write an original comedy pilot, MY LIFE IN ART, for Channel X Hopscotch about an arts administrator in charge of making public art who doesn’t have a creative bone in her body. His feature film MAKING NOISE, about the life and work of deaf percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, has recently attached Embankment Films for financing and global distribution and will be directed by Hope Dickson Leach.

In 2018 James was selected from across the UK to be part of the BBC Writersroom's Drama Writers Programme. He has a number of projects in development: JACK, a feature film about a gay couple trying to start a family, is currently in development with FoxCub Films. ROSIE - a six-part psychological thriller in development with LA Production; and SUPERFAN - an 8-part drama in development with Balloon Entertainment about an obsessed fan who kidnaps his K-pop idol.

 

Omar Raza

Omar is a multi award-winning actor who was listed by ‘The Scots Magazine’ as a ‘Funny Five Scot’ comedian alongside Kevin Bridges and Susan Calman. His BBC performing credits include: Limmy’s Show!, CBBC’s Annoying Things Adults Say and BBC Radio 4’s Fags Mags and Bags' & ‘Beta Female. As an RTS nominated writer, Omar’s first writing was the CBBC co-written sketch Burn Down The House for CBBC's Annoying Things Adults Say. Strand. His solo screenwriting debut, Soul Journey, was for the BBC Three series The Break, Series III. It was shortlisted at: the ‘MIPCOM Diversify TV Excellence Awards 2018’, the ‘Edinburgh TV Festival: New Voice Awards 2019’ and the ‘Royal Television Society Awards 2019’.

 

Samara MacLaren

Agent : Jonathan Kinnersley, The Agency

Samara is an actress and writer and was part of the BBC's 2018 Drama Room Scheme with BBC Writersroom. Her debut play, Ailsa Benson is Missing premiered at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival and was nominated for the Scottish Theatre Awards and a Filipa Braganca Award. Her first full length television spec script, "Sabrina Healey" has been optioned by Andrea Calderwood at Potboiler Productions and her second, "East Neuk", has been optioned by Tally Garner at Mam Tor Productions.

 

Sophie Wu

Agent : Jessica Cooper, Curtis Brown

Sophie is an actress and talented writer for screen and stage. Her debut play, Sophie Wu Is Minging, and Looks Like She's Dead, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and transferred to the Soho Theatre. Sophie’s short film, Franny Wong, was one of the 5 films made for The Break, Series III for BBC Three. She is working with the Bush Theatre as part of their new writing programme and is developing an original TV project with Charlie Brooker's company, House of Tomorrow.

 

Stewart Thomson

Agent : Matthew Dench, Dench Arnold Agency

Stewart is a graduate of the National Film and Television School and his film, Bill's Visitors, was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA and a Scottish BAFTA New Talent Award as part of Channel 4’s Coming Up strand. His debut feature, Rocket Surgery, is set for production in early 2020. Beating the Drum, his second feature has been developed by BBC Films and Creative Scotland. In September 2016, Stewart’s sitcom pilot, Pumped, was transmitted on BBC Three and BBC2. Stewart's comedy pilot SKWIBS was a previous winner of the BAFTA Rocliffe New Comedy Award and was performed on stage at the New York Television Festival. Stewart was part of BBC Writersroom Comedy Room 2017/18. His short film, A Vocal Minority, was produced for The Break, Series III, for BBC Three and was nominated for a Celtic Media Award 2019. He is developing a new sitcom for The Comedy Unit in Glasgow and a comedy project for CBBC. Stewart has also written for theatre, with his debut Frank's Dead premiering at Oran Mor in Glasgow where it later won their audience award for best comedy that year. His script Dash is being produced with Blazing Griffin for the Digital Drama Pilot Scheme for BBC Scotland and his project Elastic has been developed by Big Talk and has recently been commissioned to script by BBC Drama.