Paul Abbott

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Paul Abbott
Abbott in September 2011
Abbott in September 2011
Born (1960-02-22) 22 February 1960 (age 64)
Burnley, England
Occupation
  • Screenwriter
  • producer
Period1982–present (as of 2021)

Paul Abbott (born 22 February 1960) is an English screenwriter and producer. He became one of the most successful television writers in Britain following his work on popular series such as

Shameless (2004–2013), and No Offence
(2015–2018).

Early life

Abbott was born into a dysfunctional family in

Barden High School as an early positive influence on him.[3]

Abbott was raped by a stranger at the age of 11, leading to him jumping from the roof of a multi-story car park in an attempt to take his own life.[2][3] Two years later, after another suicide attempt, he was forced into an adult mental hospital; he later became a voluntary patient.[3] On his release, he was taken into foster care and placed with a much more settled working-class family, where having two parents who held steady employment and owned a television and car was a new experience for him. At the same time, he began attending a local Sixth Form College and started attending meetings of the Burnley Writers' Circle after seeing their advert in the local public library.[4] He enrolled at the University of Manchester in 1980 to study psychology, but decided to leave to concentrate on writing when a radio play he wrote was accepted by the BBC.[5]

Career

Abbott entered the Radio Times drama competition at the age of 22 which had the requirement to find a professional sponsor. A contact knew the address of the leading British dramatist

Granada Television who hired him, at age twenty-four, to be a script editor
on their long-running soap opera Coronation Street. This made him at the time the youngest-ever person to occupy such a role on the programme.

He worked on Coronation Street for the next eight years as a story editor and from 1989 as a writer. He also worked on other programmes for Granada. In 1988, he co-wrote his first televised drama script, a one-off play for the Dramarama anthology, with fellow Coronation Street writer Kay Mellor. The same year, he and Mellor co-created the children's medical drama Children's Ward, which ran for many years—Abbott regularly contributed scripts until 1992, then returned briefly to the show in 1996.

In 1994, he worked as the producer on the second season of Granada's drama series

Cracker, about the work of a criminal psychologist played by Robbie Coltrane. The following year he switched to writing scripts for the programme and wrote several episodes. He made his first breakthrough with a programme of his own creation, the police drama serial Touching Evil in 1997. The series, starring popular actor Robson Green, was a success, and two sequel serials—although not written by Abbott—followed. Most recently, in 2004, the series was re-made for American television by the USA Network
.

After writing another serial starring Green,

Red Production Company. He contributed an episode to their anthology series Love in the 21st Century, screened on Channel 4, and in 2000 created and wrote the series Clocking Off for them, which was screened on BBC One. Set in one factory in Lancashire, the series focused on a different member of factory staff each episode. The first season won the BAFTA award for Best Drama Series, and the equivalent at the Royal Television Society awards; Abbott personally was recognised with the RTS Best Writer award. Clocking Off
ran for four seasons, although Abbott's contributions to the final two runs were minimal as he was by this time busy working on other projects.

In 2001, he created another Red series screened on BBC One, the comedy-drama Linda Green; although this was somewhat less successful and ran for only two seasons before cancellation. In 2000, he was due to adapt the D. H. Lawrence novel Sons and Lovers as a four-part television serial but pulled out due to work commitments.

2002 saw Abbott experimenting with a new genre when he wrote the political thriller

State of Play, which was directed by David Yates and produced for the BBC by Hilary Bevan-Jones. In late 2003, Abbott and Bevan-Jones founded their own independent production company, Tightrope Pictures, based in Soho, London.[6][2]

In early 2004,

The Most Powerful People in Television Drama
. Abbott was the highest-placed writer on the list, those above him being actors and executives.

Tightrope Pictures have produced several high-profile dramas for the BBC, including Richard Curtis's The Girl in the Café (also directed by David Yates for BBC One, 2005) and an adaptation of William Golding's novel To the Ends of the Earth (BBC Two, 2005). In 2009, Abbott acted as executive producer on the film version of State of Play for Universal Pictures.

The first series of No Offence aired on Channel 4 beginning in May 2015. In 2021, Sky Max would broadcast Abbott's newest crime series, Wolfe.

Academic work

In July 2006, it was announced that the University of Salford had appointed Abbott as a visiting professor; the same month, Manchester Metropolitan University awarded him with an honorary doctorate. His November 2006 lecture at Salford entitled "The 21st Century Box" explored how media is changing and provided "first aid for British television makers". Attendees included the Mayor and Mayoress of Salford.

In 2013, Dr. Beth Johnson from the University of Leeds published the first book-length academic study of Abbott's work alongside Manchester University Press.

In 2015, Abbott was awarded an honorary doctorate from Keele University.

Writing credits

Production Notes Broadcaster
Dramarama
  • "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night" (1988)
ITV
Children's Ward
  • 32 episodes (1989–1992)
ITV
Coronation Street
  • 7 episodes (story associate, 1987–1989), 8 episodes (1991–1993)
ITV
Medics
  • "Born Losers" (1995)
ITV
Cracker
  • "Best Boys: Part 1" (1995)
  • "Best Boys: Part 2" (1995)
  • "True Romance: Part 1" (1995)
  • "True Romance: Part 2" (1995)
  • "White Ghost" (1996)
ITV
Springhill
  • Co-creator (1996-1997)
Channel 4/Sky One
Reckless
  • 6 episodes (1997)
ITV
Touching Evil
  • 16 episodes (1997–1999)
ITV
Police 2020
  • Unaired pilot (1997)
ITV
Reckless: The Sequel
  • Television film (1998)
ITV
Butterfly Collectors
  • Miniseries (1999)
ITV
Cracker: Mind Over Murder
  • "First Love: Part 1" (1999)
  • "First Love: Part 2" (1999)
  • "Best Boys" (1999)
ABC
Love in the 21st Century
  • "Reproduction" (1999)
Channel 4
The Secret World of Michael Fry
  • 2 episodes (2000)
Channel 4
Best of Both Worlds
  • 3 episodes (2001)
BBC One
Clocking Off
  • 13 episodes (2000–2002)
BBC One
Linda Green
  • 7 episodes (2001–2002)
BBC One
Tomorrow La Scala!
  • Feature film (co-written with Francesca Joseph, 2002)
N/A
State of Play
  • 6 episodes (2003)
BBC One
Alibi
  • Television film (2003)
ITV
Shameless
  • 11 episodes (2004–2013)
Channel 4
Mrs In-Betweeny
  • Television film (2008)
BBC Three
Exile
  • 3 episodes (2011)
BBC One
Hit & Miss
  • 6 episodes (2012)
Sky Atlantic
Twenty8k
  • Feature film (co-written with Jimmy Dowdall, 2012)
N/A
No Offence
  • 8 episodes (2015–2018)
Channel 4
Wolfe
  • Pilot, also producer of series (2021–)
Sky Max

Awards and nominations

Year Award Work Category Result Reference
1993 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award Coronation Street TV – Original Drama Series (with
Frank Cottrell Boyce, Tom Elliott, Barry Hill, Stephen Mallatratt, Julian Roach, Adele Rose, Patrea Smallacombe, John Stevenson, Peter Whalley, Mark Wadlow
and Phil Woods)
Won
1995 British Academy Television Awards
Cracker
Best Drama Series Won
1996 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award TV – Original Drama Series (with Jimmy McGovern) Won
1998
Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Cracker: "
White Ghost
"
Best Television Feature or Miniseries Nominated
1998 British Academy Television Awards Touching Evil Best Drama Series (with Jane Featherstone) Nominated
1998
Royal Television Society Awards
Best Writer Nominated
1998 Royal Television Society Awards Reckless Best Writer Nominated
2001 Royal Television Society Awards Clocking Off Best Writer Won
2001 British Academy Television Awards Best Drama Series (with Nicola Shindler and Ann Harrison-Baxter) Won
2002 TRIC Awards Linda Green Comedy (with Beryl Richards and Matthew Bird) Won
2002 British Academy Television Awards Clocking Off Best Drama Series (with Nicola Shindler and Juliet Charlesworth) Nominated
2003 British Academy Television Awards Best Drama Series (with Nicola Shindler and Juliet Charlesworth) Nominated
2003 British Academy Television Awards
State of Play
Best Drama Series (with David Yates and Hilary Bevan Jones) Nominated
2004 British Academy Television Awards
Shameless
Dennis Potter Award Won
2004
Broadcasting Press Guild Awards
Writer's Award Won
2004 Prix Italia TV Drama - Series and Serials (with Mark Mylod, Dearbhla Walsh and Jonny Campbell) Nominated
2004 Golden Nymph State of Play Mini-Series - Best Script Won
2005 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Writer's Award Won
2005 Edgar Allan Poe Awards Best Television Feature or Mini-Series Teleplay Won
2005
Primetime Emmy Awards
The Girl in the Café Outstanding Made for Television Movie (with Richard Curtis and Hilary Bevan Jones) Won
2005
British Comedy Awards
Shameless Best TV Comedy Drama Won
2005 Royal Television Society Awards Best Writer Won
2006 Royal Television Society Awards Best Writer Nominated
2006
Banff Rockie Award
Best Continuing Series Nominated
2007 Royal Television Society Awards Instinct Best Drama Series (with Terry McDonough, Paul Frift and Hilary Bevan Jones) Won
2008 TRIC Awards Shameless TV Drama Programme Nominated
2009 British Academy Television Awards Best Drama Series (with
George Faber
, John Griffin and Johann Knobel)
Nominated
2009
TV Quick Awards
Best Drama Series Nominated
2010 TV Quick Awards Best Drama Series Nominated
2010 TRIC Awards TV Drama Programme Nominated
2011 TV Quick Awards Best Drama Series Nominated
2011
National Television Awards
Most Popular Drama Nominated
2012 British Academy Television Awards Best Soap & Continuing Drama (with George Faber, David Threlfall and Lawrence Till) Nominated
2014 OFTA Television Awards Best Writing in a Comedy Series (with John Wells, Nancy Pimental, Etan Frankel, Sheila Callaghan, Davey Holmes and Krista Vernoff) Nominated
2016 RTS Programme Awards No Offence Best Drama Series (with Martin Carr, Catherine Morshead and Anna Ferguson) Won
BAFTA Television Awards Best Drama Series (with Martin Carr, Catherine Morshead and Anna Ferguson) Nominated

References

General
  • Jeffries, Stuart (7 February 2005). "Why I Write". The Guardian.
  • O'Carroll, Lisa (16 May 2003). "Abbott turns his 'sub-working class' life into drama". The Guardian.
  • Wylie, Ian (24 April 2007). "Abbott blasts today's TV". Manchester Evening News.
Specific
  1. ^ Abbott, Paul (15 May 2005). "The South Bank Show – Paul Abbott". The South Bank Show (Interview). Interviewed by Melvyn Bragg. ITV.
  2. ^ a b c d Decca Aitkenhead, "Estate of Play", The Guardian, 12 July 2008. Accessed 14 July 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d e Stars and Stories (24 April 2009). "Paul Abbott profile for State of Play". Telegraph. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  4. ^ "Paul Abbott biography". screenonline. 13 June 1988. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  5. ^ BFI Screenonline: Abbott, Paul (1960–) Biography
  6. ^ British Film Institute screenonline database. Accessed 22 October 2007.
  7. ^ Ian Wylie (29 November 2010). "Shameless creator Paul Abbott talks about his new Channel 4 series". Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2014.

External links