British television screenwriter and playwright
John Fay
is a British television screenwriter and playwright. He is known for his work on television soap operas
Brookside
and
Coronation Street
as well as his later work on original drama series like
Torchwood
.
Career
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Theatre writing
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Fay began his writing career by writing and producing his own stage plays for local theatres around Liverpool,
[1]
including several plays for Kirkby Response Theatre during the nineties. His later credits include the stage plays
The Cruel Sea
and
Eat My Eyes
.
[2]
He has also written 'Joe Hill's Dream', based on the life of
Joe Hill
, the famous Swedish-American labour activist and songwriter.
Television
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Fay began his television career on
Brookside
, although he states in an interview that it took him 16 years and several speculative scripts to get taken on to the writing staff full-time.
[1]
He stayed on the creative team for two years, writing 54 episodes,
[2]
before joining the writing staff of
Coronation Street
, writing 94 episodes
[2]
and becoming lead writer.
[3]
In 2005 he received the
British Academy Television Award
for Best Continuing Drama, sharing the BAFTA with
Coronation Street
producer
Tony Wood
and director
Ian Bevitt
. One of his notable scripts for Coronation Street was "
Richard Hillman
's murder confession" which attracted over 19 million viewers.
[2]
Fay's other television contributions include episodes of
Clocking Off
,
Blue Murder
and
Robin Hood
. In 2007, Fay created the three-part ITV drama series
Mobile
. Fay is a self-confessed hater of mobile telephones and in
Mobile
chose to explore the themes of "people's paranoid desire to always be in contact with each other" and whether mobile phones are actually necessary.
[4]
Russell T Davies, having been an admirer of John Fay's work on
Coronation Street
and
Mobile
, approached Fay to write for the third series of
Torchwood
.
[1]
Fay wrote two episodes of the award-winning third series of
Torchwood
, subtitled
Children of Earth
, which aired 7 and 9 July 2009.
[5]
He returned to write the
ninth episode
of the shows' fourth series,
Torchwood: Miracle Day
a collaboration between BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide and US cable channel Starz.
[6]
[7]
[8]
[2]
In 2011 he also wrote for the fourth series of Primeval.
[2]
He was to write an episode of
Doctor Who
, but this fell through.
[2]
Fay has written two episodes of the
Jimmy McGovern
drama
Moving On
,
Sauce for the Goose
? the first episode of the second series, and an episode of the third series, airing Autumn 2011, which he also directed.
[1]
He also contributed to the period drama
Medici: Masters of Florence
.
Personal life
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John Fay is originally from Merseyside,
[9]
and is currently based in
Maghull
, to the north of
Liverpool
, where he lives with his wife.
[1]
His father died shortly before he came to write
Children of Earth
, which Fay acknowledges when retroactively considering his views on the serial.
[9]
He cites John Proctor from
Arthur Miller
's
The Crucible
as his favourite fictional character of all time, and
Rhys Williams
as his favourite
Torchwood
character.
[1]
Selected credits
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References
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External links
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