BBC Writers Feed

The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2023 - Winner Announced

2023-09-25T11:00:00+00:00

We are delighted to announce that Chrissy Jamieson Jones is the 2023 Winner of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award with BBC Radio Drama North.

The prizegiving ceremony took place at the BBC Audio Drama Conference at Leeds Playhouse.

From 239 submissions, the finalists were:

Benjamin Bee
Chrissy Jamieson Jones (Winner)
Julie Skeat
Lee Thompson (Special commendation)

The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award is a £5000 award for a Northern writer who is new to radio. The winner also gets a 12 month mentorship with a BBC Radio Drama producer and the opportunity to gain a BBC Radio 4 drama commission.

Alfred Bradley Bursary Award finalists (from left) Julie Skeat, Benjamin Bee, Lee Thompson and Chrissy Jamieson Jones (Credit: Andrew Smith)

The winner of the 2023 Award, Chrissy Jamieson Jones said:

“Wow! I am stunned and delighted to have won the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award and can’t wait to hear Mouth on the radio. Thank you to Nadia Molinari and Pippa Day for their thoughtful feedback and support and thank you to the judges and the BBC Writer’s Room for this fantastic opportunity.”

Alison Hindell, Commissioning Head of Radio 4 Drama said:

“It was great to read all the shortlisted plays but Chrissy’s stood out for its confident pacing and sophisticated structure, as well as a moving and gripping portrayal of two women brought together in circumstances neither of them would have chosen. The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award is an important element in the nurturing of new writing from the North of England and we are proud to be able to continue to support it.”

Alfred Bradley Bursary Award Winner 2023 Chrissy Jamieson Jones (Credit: Andrew Smith)

Lee Thompson, receiving a Special Commendation for the 2023 Award, said:

“I’m thrilled to have received a Special Commendation for my script Awaydays. It was brilliant working with Jessica Mitic to develop the script into something I’m very proud of. It was amazing to hear an extract read out along with all the other brilliant finalists on Saturday. I’m very grateful to the Alfred Bradley Award and BBC Audio Drama North for the opportunity.”

Lee Thompson receiving his Special Commendation for his play Awaydays at the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award Prize Giving 2023 (Credit: Andrew Smith)

The Award was established in 1992 to commemorate the life and work of Alfred Bradley, the distinguished BBC Radio Drama Producer. Previous winners include Lee Hall, Peter Straughan, Cat Jones, Furquan Akhtar and most recently Paul Jones.

Find out more about the shortlisted writers, read synopses of their scripts and their biographies

Find out more about the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award

The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2023 | Shortlist Announced

2023-07-11T11:16:00+00:00

Four writers have been shortlisted for the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2023 with the winner set to be announced in September.

The four writers and their shortlisted plays are:

No Man's Land by Benjamin Bee

Finn believes that his life sucks because he never had a dad (or any positive male role models). But when a friend convinces him to post an advert online he has to test that theory.

Mouth by Chrissy Jamieson Jones

Mouth is the story of two mothers who lie to protect themselves from loss. It asks the question: when your world is falling apart, what lengths would you go to in order to protect your family, but also yourself?

Has Anyone Seen Kelsey? by Julie Skeat

As her mum’s cancer quickly advances, a hapless young call centre worker faces grown-up life all on her own. In this blackly comic coming-of-age drama, Kelsey manages to completely botch her suicide, start planning her mum’s funeral and find an unlikely guardian angel, all in the space of a week.

Awaydays by Lee Thompson

Disillusioned with his life, sacked from his job, and drowning in family debt, a young man with seemingly nothing to lose decides to steal himself a better life, by helping his cousin rob the houses of wealthy footballers.

These shortlisted writers will now undertake a development process with mentorship from a BBC Audio Drama North Producer ready for the final judging process this Autumn.

The selected winner will be announced in September and awarded a £5,000 cash bursary and continue to develop their drama script to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

We wish everyone the best of luck and look forward to announcing the winner later this year.

Find out more about the writers below:

Benjamin Bee

BENJAMIN BEE was born in Newcastle, where he currently lives and works. A troubled childhood meant he left school aged 14 without any qualifications. Since then he’s graduated from the London Film School and became a multi-award-winning writer & director, whose short-form work has been long-listed twice for the BAFTA’s and screened at over 500 festivals worldwide.

In 2019 he was selected as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow, and is currently in development on his first feature, MARWELL, a touching, time-travel comedy-drama, without any time travel. Marwell was selected for Venice Biennale College–Cinema, EIFF Talent Lab Connects, and is in development with the BFI Film Fund.

Ben is also developing multiple projects for TV and was recently selected for the BBC Comedy Collective – designed to nurture the next generation of comedy talent. He proudly identifies as neurodivergent and disabled. Ben is represented by Hannah Linnen at 42 management.

Chrissy Jamieson Jones

Chrissy Jamieson Jones wrote her play MOUTH on the Liverpool Royal Court's Stage Write programme. She has previously been shortlisted for the Shelagh Delaney Award, and has had short plays produced in London and locally in the North West.

She is currently collaborating with Box of Tricks Theatre on their Pen Pals programme and juggles writing alongside being a mum and re-training to be a psychotherapist.

Julie Skeat

After twelve years in the education sector, Julie Skeat tired of writing in secret, left primary teaching and undertook Writing on the Wall’s Write to Work course. More than a reboot, it was a total reprogramming, giving her the injection of confidence needed to call herself a writer. Last summer she was chosen as one of the Writersroom Write Across Liverpool writers and wrote a pilot episode for her drama Pop! about her experience of burnout.

She is currently working on her first full length play as part of the Liverpool Everyman Playwrights’ Programme. In BURIED, a daughter reliving her mother’s escape from domestic abuse warns of the dangers of carrying someone else’s story. Julie’s characters aren’t used to the spotlight, tending to shuffle their feet and hang around in the margins. Many of these working-class voices think they are not worth listening to and she wants to prove them wrong.

Lee Thompson

LEE THOMPSON is a screenwriter and playwright from Liverpool. He is a graduate of the Liverpool Everyman Playwriting Course. His play QUALIFIED, a one-person show with music about teaching and mental health, has been performed at the Playhouse Studio in Liverpool and Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester. Lee has also written plays for the Everyman Youth Theatre and the Alligators Collective at The Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester.

For television, Lee worked on the final series of Jimmy McGovern’s MOVING ON, contributing the second episode of the series, SECRET LIFE. He is currently developing new work for television and stage. Lee is represented by Julia Mills at Berlin Associates.

Find out more about the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award including previous winners, great tips and advice on writing for Radio and read scripts in our online Script Library.

Writing 'Life and Death in the Warehouse'

2022-03-03T12:12:21+00:00

At 9pm on 7th March, Life and Death in the Warehouse – a factual drama by the BAFTA winning team who created Killed by My Debt and The Left Behind – will air on BBC Three, BBC Wales and BBC iPlayer. It’s a beautiful, touching, shocking film about a group of young people working in a fulfilment centre. But one of the most surprising things about it for me is the fact that I wrote it. I mean I’m relatively new to TV writing, so how on earth did I get a gig like this?

Megan Roberts (AIMEE-FFION EDWARDS), Alys Morgan (POPPY LEE FRIAR) in Life and Death in the Warehouse (Image Credit: BBC/Simon Ridgway)

Well here’s a thing.

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

Life and Death in the Warehouse (image credit: BBC/Simon Ridgway)

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

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

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

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

Helen Black

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

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

Hello Covid 19.

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

Megan Roberts (AIMEE-FFION EDWARDS), Danny Howells (CRAIG PARKINSON) Behind the scenes. (L-R) on Life and Death in the Warehouse (Image Credit: BBC/Simon Ridgway)

So BBC Writersroom. Great resource. Great people. Great opportunities.

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

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

The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2021 - Winner Announced

2021-12-13T16:34:58+00:00

We are delighted to announce that Paul Jones is the 2021 Winner of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award with BBC Radio Drama North.

Listen to his winning play ‘Patterdale’ now on BBC Sounds

From 342 submissions, the finalists were:

Jilly Sumsion
Emilie Robson (Special commendation)
Houmi Miura
Paul Jones (Winner)
Duncan MacInnes

The winner of the 2021 Award, Paul Jones said:

“I'm very pleased and proud to have won the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award and am looking forward to hearing Patterdale performed. Thank you to the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award judges and to Lorna Newman and Jessica Mitic for their support in its development.”

Alison Hindell, Commissioning Head of Radio 4 Drama said:

“Radio 4 is delighted to continue supporting this important award recognising the talents of new writers in the North of England. We look forward to hearing Paul’s play on the radio next year and to watching his future progression.”

Paul Jones hears that he's been announced as the winner of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2021

Find out more about the shortlisted writers, read synopses of their scripts and their biographies

Find out more about the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award

North East Voices

2021-09-20T09:10:29+00:00

We’re delighted to announce the details of our latest writers’ development group, North East Voices 2021.

BBC Writersroom North East Voices

The North East of England is a region full of talented storytellers and has a track record of producing top-class playwrights and screenwriters, yet it is a region we don’t see so very often on our screens. From the rugged beauty of the Northumberland coastline to the vibrant modern urban centres there are an abundance of contemporary stories, perspectives and cultures our writers are keen to explore.

These 10 talented emerging writers have taken part in a targeted development programme designed to offer insight into TV and how the industry works, with expert masterclasses that provide the tools and knowledge to write for broadcast television. The writers attended a series of weekly sessions hosted by top talent from across the industry with a focus on craft skills including story, structure, character and how these can be applied to the development of an original TV drama idea. The ten writers have all been supported in the development of an original TV drama / comedy drama pitch.

The writers were all carefully identified through BBC Writersroom open call opportunities, talent scouting and nominations from our partnerships with new writing organisations and theatres across the North East of England.

If you would like further information about any of the writers, please feel free to contact writersroom@bbc.co.uk or their agent if applicable.

Find out more from the writers below: …

Nic Owen

Nic Owen is a Gateshead based writer. She is currently one of the screenwriters chosen for BFI/Film Hub North Script Lab 2021, for which she is developing a short film script. She is also selected for the 2021 BBC Writersroom North East Voices programme for which she is developing a one page pitch based on one of her original ideas.

Two of her previous full length scripts have been longlisted for BBC Writersroom (Drama) and the Bruntwood Prize For Playwriting and she has written micro plays performed at Live Theatre and Alphabetti Theatre.

Nic's writing celebrates the unique culture and diversity of the North East, often with a bias towards showcasing the resilience, humour and warmth of female relationships. Nic is particularly interested in creating authentic and relevant work based around her own experiences growing up in a working class home and from over a decade working as an emergency responder on the streets. In her spare time she enjoys tending her three hives of honeybees, hanging out with her geriatric cat, getting tattooed and snowboarding.

Mhairi Ledgerwood

Mhairi Ledgerwood is a Scottish playwright, who has lived in North-East England for over a decade. She has had work performed at venues such as: The Traverse, Live Theatre, Alphabetti Theatre, and Jabberwocky Market. Her play, White Noise, was performed at ARC Stockton in 2015, following mentoring by Bruntwood Prize winner Vivienne Franzmann. Her play Parklife was staged at Live Theatre’s Live Lab Elevator Festival in 2017. In 2018, her play Paper Tiger was given a rehearsed reading at The Royal Court and Northern Stage, following a development process through The Royal Court Writers Group (North). Paper Tiger then went on to be short-listed for Theatre 503’s International Playwriting Award. In 2020, Mhairi received a seed bursary from Live Theatre to develop her play, Swimmers, about the first British women to complete at the Olympics for swimming. She was short-listed for the Pentabus Writer in Residence Bursary, and long-listed for Box Of Tricks and Sky Studios Screen/Play award.

Mhairi is currently part of Northern Stage’s NORTH artist training programme, and Box of Tricks Pen Pals.

Lauren Vevers

Lauren Vevers (she/they) is a writer from Newcastle upon Tyne. Her plays, Trashed and Bassline, were included on the Pint-Sized Playwriting longlist in 2018/2019. Her debut short film, Love Spell, was funded by BFI NETWORK screened at BAFTA-qualify festivals and internationally. She was awarded Best Director at Women X in 2020. Through her work, she explores queer stories, points of human connections and our relationship to the natural world.

Alison Carr

Alison Carr: Theatre credits include: TUESDAY (National Theatre Connections Festival); THE LAST QUIZ NIGHT ON EARTH (Box of Tricks Theatre Company); CATERPILLAR (Theatre503/Stephen Joseph Theatre, Finalist – Theatre503 Playwriting Award); HUSH (Paines Plough/RWCMD/Gate Theatre); IRIS (Live Theatre, Winner – Writer of the Year, Journal Culture Awards); FAT ALICE (Traverse Theatre/Òran Mór/Aberdeen Performing Arts); THE SOAKING OF VERA SHRIMP (Winner, Live Theatre/The Empty Space Bursary Award).
Audio credits include WE STEP OUTSIDE AND START TO DANCE (ACE, National Lottery, Winner – OnComm Award); STUFF performed by Olivier Award winner Sophie Thompson (Painkiller Podcast); DOLLY WOULD (BBC Radio 4).

Michael Hunter

Michael Hunter is a working-class actor from North Shields, based in London. He graduated from the University of Sunderland with a degree in Broadcast Media Production, before moving down to study a Masters in Screen Acting at the prestigious Drama Centre London, graduating straight into a pandemic. Handy.

Through lockdown, he wrote his debut short play ‘Wednesday Afternoon’ which has been selected by the Customs House, South Shields, and performed as part of their 'Play' competition. It was also selected as part of the 'Shorts' New Writing festival and performed at the White Bear Theatre in London this summer.

He has recently reached the top 1% of the BBC Drama Room 2021 with his first feature-length screenplay - 'Hotneverending'. However, he can't write a decent Tinder bio to save his life.

Sam Victoria

Samantha Victoria is an actor, writer and mother of two from the North East who has been writing for the stage since 2017.

Samantha’s debut short play Elliot was nominated for the Emerge Creative Writing Prize in 2018. Her play Familiar completed a week long run at Alphabetti Theatre as part of their 3 Shorts programme in September, 2019. Samantha’s first full length play, Last Seen, Bensham Road debuted at Live Theatre’s Elevator Festival, March 2020. She wrote and performed the piece as well as securing arts council funding for the project.

Samantha won the 2020, New Writing North - Channel 4 Writing for Television Award to develop a folk-horror script with Bonafide Productions.

Daneka Etchells

Daneka Etchells (they/she) is a writer and actor from Cumbria. They trained at ALRA and is a Live Theatre Playwriting Course alumni. They are currently a writer on attachment with Box of Tricks’ PlayBox 2021 scheme, developing their play Rogue Comet(s). During lockdown 2020, they wrote a love letter to their hometown Carlisle Great Border City (Yam) for Paines Plough’s Come To Where I Am project. They’re also currently under commission from Emmerson and Ward for her one person show Sappho exploring bisexuality, rurality, class and mental health. Daneka recently finished on a track for a special new album of poetry commissions underscored by original compostion Peaches and Cream with Alexandra Faye Braithwaite and Russell Ditchfield of Rusty Studios.

This will be Daneka’s first venture into writing for screen and is super excited to be a part of North East Voices.

Zoe Murtagh (picturesbybish)

Zoe Murtagh is a writer and performer based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Working across theatre, film, performance and poetry, Zoe creates work on themes of queerness, heritage, the environment and friendships in a way that is accessible and vibrant. Inspired by social movements, school science lessons, Kate Bush’s dancing and folklore, she creates playful disruptions in everyday life through work in theatres, festivals, zines, schools and on screen.

Zoe is an Associate Artist at ARC Stockton and a Freelance Artist with Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and New Writing North. Her first short film ‘After the Break’ was written through BFI Network and Film Hub North’s ‘Script Lab’ programme before a reading at Royal Exchange Manchester. ‘After the Break’ was produced for screen through New Creatives with BBC Arts and Arts Council England.

Zoe’s debut theatre work ‘Sacre Blue’ received Northern Stage’s ‘Title Pending’ Award for New Theatre in 2016. She was commissioned through North East Artist Develop Network to create and tour ‘The Lamppost Petition’ before creating ‘Iconography’ with Curious Festival in 2018.

Zoe is currently writing ‘We Have Rather Been Invaded’, a play about a punk band exploring the impact and resistance to Section 28. This work in progress performance took place at Live Theatre in February 2020.

Elijah Young

Elijah Young is a Newcastle-based writer and actor from Teesside. He is an Associate Artist at Live Theatre where his writing was first performed. He was granted the Young Writer Residency at the Customs House for the Takeover festival 2019. During this residency his play Isolation premiered and was later revived at Alphabetti Theatre. Other work includes NASA lie the Earth is flat no curve (Three Shorts) and Contactless (Listen Up) at Alphabetti Theatre, Biscuit Tins (Yarns from ‘Yem tour) for Blowin A Hooley. He is currently working on a commission from Live Theatre for the Elevator Festival 2022 and a Christmas play for Queens Hall Hexham, Alnwick playhouse and The Firestation Sunderland. His work tends to centre around celebrating being queer and northern. Elijah was named by North East British Theatre Guide as “Most Promising Newcomer 2019”.

Tamsin Rees

Tamsin Rees is a playwright from County Durham, now based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. She is a member of the Orange Tree Writer's Collective 2021, an Associate Artist at Live Theatre and was a member of the first Royal Court Writers Group North. She writes stories that are rooted in the North East and prod at class, sexuality and power. Tamsin is also currently an AHRC funded PhD candidate at Newcastle University where she is specialising in playwriting.

Theatre work includes: Cheer Up Slug (Live Theatre), Fledglings (Nuffield Southampton Theatres), Clementines (Live Theatre), My Mate Ren (Sticky Theatre), Teddy (New Writing North), Fingerwank (Live/Bunker Theatre).

Find out more about our writer development groups including Voices groups across the UK

Assistant Commissioner for Drama - North of England

2021-07-02T09:49:29+00:00

Alice Ramsey (photo credit: Gemma Day)

Alice Ramsey has been announced as the Assistant Commissioner for Drama, with a focus on the north of England. Alice was previously a Development Producer at BBC Writersroom in Salford managing Script Room, the Writers' Access Group and Northern Voices. She joined the BBC from BFI NETWORK in Summer 2019.

In this new role Alice will work across both Drama Commissioning and the BBC Writersroom to identify and develop writing talent and support the development and production of the drama slate with a specific focus on the North of England.

This is the first of four new assistant commissioning roles to lead on new writer development and support the existing commissioning editors for each of the Nations who sit within the drama team. Applications for the Scotland position were open until 10th June and applications for the positions in Northern Ireland and Wales will be open later this year (keep across our Twitter feed for announcements).

The new Assistant Commissioner roles will have dual reporting lines to the Nations Commissioning Editors and the Head of New Writing, Jess Loveland, who began her role last week.

Find out more information on the BBC's Media Centre website

Meet the BBC Writersroom team

The Verb - Listen to 4 new short dramas

2021-03-01T17:15:46+00:00

The BBC Radio 3 programme The Verb is a weekly "Cabaret of the Word", featuring the best poetry, new writing and performance, presented by Ian McMillan. The programme has regularly collaborated with us at BBC Writersroom, offering the opportunity for four writers from our development groups to gain a 5 minute audio drama commission and the chance to appear as a guest.

The most recent opportunity challenged writers to be experimental with language and to create a short piece of work based around the theme of “Renewal” and any meanings this evoked or inspired.

As with every opportunity we run, we were overwhelmed by the high standard and breadth of ideas that were submitted. Ultimately we selected the four ideas that felt the most original and bold while reflecting and embracing the theme, together with meeting the requirements of the audio medium to grab the listener and give them a new experience.

Having been selected, it was all go for the four writers as they underwent a swift but thorough development process with their BBC Radio Drama North Producer. They ended up being some of the first audio dramas to be recorded remotely when we first went into lockdown as a country this time last year.

Despite the initial set-back and the missed opportunity to all be in the same studio for the recording, we're delighted with how each of the dramas has turned out and how they demonstrate each writer's individual talents and voice. Listen to them below.

Ian McMillan presents The Verb on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds

“I like the way the rhythms of ordinary speech are put under pressure by the needs of the compressed narrative. The sound world, like the writing, seals you into these dramas in a way that never lets you go.” - Ian McMillan (Presenter of The Verb)

“These short dramas can make you feel like you’re caught in someone else’s train of thought – you discover how strange language really is – and that’s something I really value in these scripts" Faith Lawrence (Producer of The Verb)

“They’ve been like little vibrant jewels of sound. - the scripts, have had a precious jewel quality – small moments that stay with you, I like how they’ve taken little everyday moments, a haircut, or an attempt to follow a recipe and show how important they really are” - Jessica Treen (Assistant Producer of The Verb)

Listen to Please, No Shouting in the Reception Area by Jacob Welby

Please, No Shouting in the Reception Area is about a woman who attempts the simple task of getting her passport renewed but is faced with a bureaucracy so convoluted that it tears down the fabric of her own reality.

Please, No Shouting in the Reception Area was broadcast on The Verb on 17th April 2020 - Listen to the whole programme

Listen to Avocado Fried Rice by Alissa Anne Jeun Yi

Avocado Fried Rice is all about a strained mother-daughter relationship, living with dementia and reconnecting with your cultural roots through cooking. ‘Renewal’ in Avocado Fried Rice is the renewal of the mother-daughter relationship - Through learning to cook the recipe her mother has long forgotten, the daughter also gets the opportunity to ‘renew’ and deepen her connection with her heritage - and also to ‘renew’ and reinterpret an traditional, family recipe in her unique, more Westernised way - merging the culture her mum is from and her own; and creating something new and different that celebrates both worlds.

Avocado Fried Rice was broadcast on The Verb on 1st May 2020 - Listen to the whole programme

Listen to Ghosts by Lucy Burke

Ghosts is an exploration of grief, specifically looking at how Freya - a young woman in her twenties - comes to terms with her life continuing when the person she intended on living it out with is taken away unexpectedly. It explores Freya's emerging feelings of guilt and the challenges she faces trying to move forward, of renewing her life plans but in a different way.

Ghosts was broadcast on The Verb on 26th June 2020.

Listen to Reflection by Lettie Precious

We all have insecurities; most of them are fuelled by our own beliefs and experiences through the world we live in. Our insecurities dictate how we see the world and how we think the world sees us. What truths or lies does RED’s reflection tell them? Maybe Peckham High Street has the answer.

Reflection was broadcast on The Verb on 26th February 2021 - Listen to the whole programme

Find out more about The Verb and listen to programmes now on BBC Sounds

Listen to last year's The Verb short dramas

The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award - An Introduction by Jez Bradley

2020-09-25T10:13:43+00:00

The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award has run every two years since 1992. Supported by the BBC Writersoom, BBC Radio Drama North and the Bradley family, it has helped to launch many brilliant new writers based in the North of England. Alfred's son, Jez Bradley has given us some insights into his father's life and work as well as his passion for Radio.

Alfred Bradley in the studio

Alfred Bradley had great success with a BBC radio programme called the Northern Drift that was produced in Leeds from 1964 and ran for ten years. It was developed with Alan Plater, a young architect who later became a well-known playwright.

Alfred and his wife, Judith, had six children of which I was the eldest, and we kids would regularly visit the studio to watch the recordings. Sometimes we would contribute if the program needed a child’s voice to speak, cry or shout. I didn’t always know whom I was meeting at the time but now know that the new actors and writers included: Stan Barstow, Barry Hines, Beryl Bainbridge, Bernard Cribbins, Brian Thompson, Carla Lane, Trevor Griffiths, Alex Glasgow, Henry Livings, John Braine, Sid Chaplin, Bill Naughton and many more Northern voices. Alan Ayckbourn was a young production assistant!

Alfred loved the physics of radio. As a child, he built small radio receivers and fitted one into a toy robot so that it appeared to talk. When, aged about nine, I received a transistor radio as a Christmas present, he couldn’t wait to open it up to analyse the circuitry.

He was conscripted in 1943 and became a captain in the Royal Signals, operating radio communications in India, Egypt and Burma. When war ended, the army sponsored him to study a physics course at Oxford University. His first job was at Leicester Theatre (having done army theatre productions) before moving to the BBC in Leeds. When the BBC began to develop broadcast in stereo, Alfred demonstrated how it might be done inexpensively by wiring his domestic hi-fi amplifier into the mixing desk!

Listen to a clip of Alfred Bradley talking about The Northern Drift radio programme

Alfred had a deep love for the BBC, especially in the North. He was later based in Manchester, and even produced The Archers in Birmingham after he had ‘retired’. The irony was that he was brought up in London and went to school in High Wycombe. However, Alfred was born in Newcastle and moved to London when his dad found work as a scenery painter at Pinewood studios.

He had a really strong belief that there was much new Northern talent that needed help to be heard. The BBC and Bradley family have maintained the Alfred Bursary Award for almost three decades and we are proud of its many successes. We are extremely glad that it continues to encourage and support new writers based in the North of England.

Submissions for The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2023 will open for applications for writers resident in the North of England from 12 noon on Monday 27th February 2023 and close at 12 noon on Tuesday 11th April 2023

Find out more and meet the previous winners of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award

Download and read scripts by previous winners and runners-up in the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award:

Patterdale by Paul Jones

Monique and Me by Jill O'Halloran

Human Resources by Piers Black

Shamed by Furquan Akhtar

Hangdog by Cat Jones

Abigail Adams by Mark Shand

Visit our Radio Drama Script Library to download and read many more scripts

Lockdown Learnings from two of our Northern Voices writers

2020-05-11T14:16:41+00:00

BBC Writersroom is as busy as ever during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked two of our Northern Voices writers (Sara Cocker and Léonie Higgins, two-thirds of Manchester's Eggs Collective) to describe how their recent day devoted to Comedy writing played out in a socially-distanced world.

Léonie Higgins and Sara Cocker

Hi, we’re Sara and Léonie, a pair of writer-performers based in Manchester. We’re part of the BBC Writersroom Northern Voices group for 2020, which means we get access to monthly sessions led by industry professionals from across the broadcast landscape. There are 18 of us, and although we’ve only all met in the flesh twice, we’re using the time in lockdown to replicate the experience we should have had, trying just as hard as everyone else in the world to maintain breezy social bonds with only fibre-optic broadband and a couple of in-jokes.

This month’s session was about comedy writing. It all happened on Zoom (where else?), but we tried to make it feel less remote by firing up the group chat. We tried our best at doing some banter on WhatsApp, and played a drinking game where you have a sip of tea whenever the cornerstones of great writing are mentioned (amongst them, ‘voice’, ‘authenticity’ and, for the instant jackpot, ‘Fleabag’). To replicate our whole experience, we’ve put some dispatches from the WhatsApp frontline below (in italics) and you can play along with the drinking game, using whatever beverages are left in the Co-op.

For the session, we collectively overdressed. People were wearing make-up and bras only to realise that this was actually a cameras-off situation. There’s something v depressing about seeing your own face, fully made-up, reflected in your blank computer screen. But we made the best of it. Leanna and Houmi put their BBC lanyards on, and the rest of us pretended we were at Media City by imagining our bedrooms filled with lifesize cardboard cutouts of BBC Sport presenters.

SESSION ONE

Our first session was beamed live from the WFH desk of BBC Writersroom Development Executive, Simon Nelson. Simon talked to us about what makes a script stand-out from the reading pile: original, authentic voice (DRINK!); brilliant, robust, three-dimensional characters with a comic flaw that drives the story; a plot that hits the ground running. A page one that makes you want to turn to page two.

We watched an episode of Derry Girls together (the one with the dead dog that’s not dead), as Simon talked us through the mechanics of structure and character: notice how each character pushes the story forward by acting from their flaw. Erin lives like she’s in a movie about herself, everything she does comes entirely from that. She could stop the story by clearing up all the confusion, but her comic flaw doesn’t allow her to, so we are driven onwards and the crisis escalates. The truth, of course, outs and by the end of the episode there’s the traditional sitcom reset: no-one has learnt anything, no-one has changed. So we can all be back on the settee, same time next week, for more misadventures with the characters we love.

In the break, Ellie had some ginger nuts in Hull. Taiba helped herself to a jam slice in Halifax. Over in Leeds, Samran had his breakfast.

SESSION TWO

Session Two was with comedy writer and story producer, Sarah Morgan, who kicked off by explaining the ‘The Sitcom Family’. This is the theory that, in most hit sitcoms, the four central characters fall into the roles of Patriarch, Matriarch, Craftsman and Clown.

It all sounds very gendered, but it’s not, which Sarah demonstrated by using the example of The Beatles. John’s the patriarch: the driver, the decision maker. Paul’s the matriarch: the voice of reason, the soft place for the others to land. Ringo’s the clown - very much the Bart Simpson of the most influential rock band of all time - and George is the craftsman.

Sitcoms are all about the characters, she said. In fact, often the ‘sit’ is the least important part. But they need to be trapped together in some way: there has to be a fundamental need for them to keep interacting, which could be financial, sexual, or just a fear of what would happen if they left.

The first line for each character should be a joke that tells you who they are. The first episode of Friends is a masterclass in that. For example, everything Joey says tells us very clearly, “Hey, I’m a sex guy who likes sandwiches”. And remember that every character thinks they’re the star of the show. The E character doesn’t know they’re not the A character, so they need as much detail as the lead. Gunther has dreams too.

In comedy the stakes don’t have to be objectively high, but they’ve got to feel sky high for your character. If the character cares, and we care about the character, then we’ll care about those stakes too.

The BBC Writersroom Northern Voices writers 2020

SESSION THREE

The third session was from BBC Comedy Commissioning Editor, Gregor Sharp, who talked to us about what audiences expect from comedy nowadays. There’s been a gradual sophistication of comedy as a genre: comedy shows now have characters with real psychological depth. There’s been an evolution in how we consume stories, a shift in viewing appetite, so we’re less used to watching shows where the characters are just vessels for jokes.

There are always landmark moments that bend what’s possible in the format, shows like Outnumbered, The Royle Family, Fleabag. (DRINK!)

Someone asked Gregor what they’re not looking for at the moment, and the main headlines were: give Zoom-based lockdown pitches a swerve. Unless it’s genre-bendingly brilliant. Nor are they looking for confessional, self-discovery shows at the moment. Unless they’re genre-bendingly brilliant. Basically, that seems to be the caveat to any piece of advice. If it’s genre-bendingly brilliant you can write what you want.

Similarly, if you’re worried you’ve not got enough experience? Well, if you’re funny enough, you’re experienced enough.

Look, he said, treatments are always hard to write, scripts are in the doing, and if you’re creating something for a mass medium you’ve succeeded when it reaches a mass number of people.

They’re looking for scripts full of compelling characters, that are unexpectedly funny and somehow hit the zeitgeist before anyone else knows what the zeitgeist is.

SESSION FOUR

Our fourth session was with comedy producers Jim Poyser and Rebecca Papworth. Jim and Rebecca don’t work together, but they had a lot of similar advice to share. When you come in for a first meeting with either Jim or Rebecca, they’ll want to have a good chat about your idea, but also get a sense from you that you’ll be prepared to work hard and take getting notes well. They’re looking for that idea that stands out from the crowd, and they both love a grafter.

Their advice was to read scripts of successful shows to see how economical they are, how tight the technique. Your characters should have soul, and an authentic point of view. (DRINK!)

If you’ve got an agent, your script is much more likely to be read by a producer. The relationship between writer and producer is so key, you'll be working closely together on a shared vision, so make sure that the relationship works for both of you. It’s helpful, if you do get a meeting, to have a few ideas up your sleeve.

So, take notes well, be flexible with your work, be prepared to graft. Oh, and have a fabulous voice (DRINK!) with an original concept. And if it’s a comedy: be funny.

Following some frankly terrifying advice about how it’s a good idea to be funny on social media, Jacob sent this meme, direct from the the Silicon Valley of the north (Sheffield), in 5 seconds flat:

SESSION FIVE

Our final session was with This Country writer and performer - actual Kurtan - Charlie Cooper, and the series director, Tom George. This was such an inspiring session, but maybe surprisingly, it was really reassuring (not intimidating, which it easily could have been from two lads who are partly responsible for one of the most beloved and lauded shows of recent years).

Charlie told us that when he and (co-creator of This Country) Daisy May Cooper write together, they do it in short bursts. Daisy lies on a bed, they improvise a bit as they write and when they run out of steam, they knock it on the head for the day. Both Tom and Charlie talked about the importance of finding the working practice that’s best for you. Do whatever works, whenever you’re most creative, and don’t feel guilty about what shape that takes. All the work you do is valuable, bad ideas can lead to good ideas. It’s not about how many pages you do each day or your self-imposed deadlines. Know when to call it a day when you hit a wall.

Charlie Cooper sharing advice during the Northern Voices session

They talked about a book called ‘Daily Rituals’ (currently priced at £89 from one online retailer, or £5.99 for the e-reader version, so take your pick starving artists), which goes through the massively varied daily routines of history’s most creative geniuses. We’ve not read any so far that involved sitting in elasticated waistbands chaining grab bags of Doritos in the midst of a global pandemic, but we’re only about 10 pages in. Apparently Beethoven counted out sixty coffee beans per cup, which does sound like the sort of thing that starts to really matter seven weeks into lockdown, so we’re gonna stick with it.

This session was like extra gold dust for us, because we’re a pair of writer-performers. Director Tom is also a part of the writing and storylining process on This Country, and they talked to us about how writing in a pair or a team means that you’ve got to try and take the ego out of it. Don’t censor anything, share your ideas even if they’re appalling. You have to have trust in each other.

A nice practical tip, was to share scripts with people you share a sense of humour with, they don’t have to be in the industry. For Daisy and Charlie, this person is their mum. If she laughs at something, they know it works. Thank the vicar for Mother Cooper then, eh?

Here we are in happier times, swinging by the cardboard cutout of CBeebies The Furchester Hotel (Media City branch).

Meet the Northern Voices 2020 writers

Follow @saracocker and @leoniekate on Twitter

The Northern Voices Writers 2020

2020-03-06T12:51:50+00:00

The Northern Voices Writers 2020

We’re delighted to announce our BBC Writersroom Northern Voices for 2020. These 17 exceptional writers are embarking on a year-long development programme with expert masterclasses, pitching opportunities and introductions to an industry hungry for new and exciting talent.

The group will also deliver an original TV spec' script with the support of the BBC Writersroom North team and an experienced script editor.

The writers have all been carefully identified through BBC Writersroom open call opportunities, talent scouting and nominations from our partnerships with new writing organisations and theatres in the North of England.

Through Northern Voices, previous writers have successfully received BBC credits, agent representation and industry mentorship. The Northern development programme has a track record of identifying stand-out writers including Tony Schumacher who has recently been commissioned by BBC Two to write his first original series for television and Sharma Walfall who is writing an episode of NOUGHTS AND CROSSES for Mammoth Screen/BBC.

If you would like further information on any of the writers, please feel free to contact writersroom@bbc.co.uk or their agent.

Taiba Amla

Taiba Amla

Originally from Lancashire, Taiba Amla is a writer based in West Yorkshire. In 2016 Taiba’s first short screenplay was longlisted for Create 50’s international film The Impact. She was selected for New Writing Norths talent lab Significant Ink and went on to win the 2018 Channel 4 & Northumbria University Northern Writers Award for TV Drama, mentored by Bonafide Films. Since then, Taiba has been selected to participate in the BFI Northern Exposure Short Film Script Lab and recently been commissioned by the BFI to develop her first feature film with Finite Productions. Taiba is also currently developing her first documentary with Producer Sarah Dunn.

@TaibaAmla

Gemma Bedeau

Gemma Bedeau

Gemma Bedeau is an emerging Scriptwriter and Comic writer from Leeds. Gemma was one of the winners of the Airplays radio play competition with Leeds Playhouse, Leeds College of Music and BBC Radio Leeds with her debut radio play Soon Come. Her Radio play The Ladies Room was performed and recorded for BBC Radio 3 at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe. As a comic writer Gemma has written for the Eisner nominated Princeless comic series for Action Lab and her blaxploitation comic series Afroella landed her a Glyph Award nomination for best female character and features in the Museum of Uncut Funk.

@GemmaBedeau

Leanna Benjamin

Leanna Benjamin

Leanna Benjamin is a Graeae Theatre Write to Play alumn and a West Yorkshire Playhouse Fuse writer. She is a passionate storyteller, performer, jewellery designer and human rights activist.

Leanna enjoys using her creativity to share stories that inspire, encourage and to provoke a change.

Leanna won first prize at the 2013 Ilkley Literature Festival for her hilarious monologue Sister Joy. Leanna performed her piece ‘I Smile’ at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2016, at WOW BRADFORD and at the Southbank centre as part of the WOW London festival.
Leanna completed the Graeae Theatre ‘Write to Play,’ playwright course in 2019 and is working on a new play about what really it’s like to be an overcomer and challenging society’s definition of disability.

Leanna Benjamin

Ellen Brammar

Ellen Brammar

Ellen is a Hull-based writer and founding company member of Middle Child Theatre. Her theatre credits include, I HATE ALONE (2017) with Middle Child, WALK IN THE PARK (2019) with Back to Ours, TEN with Hull Truck Theatre (2019) and ORDINARY PEOPLE (2016) with Middle Child and Leeds Playhouse. She is currently writing a new show for Middle Child which is in the ‘I have no idea what it is!’ stage of development. She was longlisted for the BBC Comedy Script Room in 2016 with CULTURED and shortlisted in the same year for the CBBC sketch show, CLASS DISMISSED.

Over the past year, Ellen has mostly had a baby attached to her boob and is now excited to get back to writing and seeing what her sleep-deprived brain can create.

Agent: Dan Usztan at United Agents

Malcolm Canvin

Malcolm Canvin

Malcolm is a writer living in Newcastle upon Tyne with his wife and daughter.

Born in Canada, he then studied in Scotland, worked in London and finally settled in the North East a few years ago.

Malcolm has written for several years; developing scripts for film, television and radio across both Comedy and Drama. He was long-listed for the BBC Writersroom Script Room for Comedy in 2019 and is very excited to have been selected for Northern Voices 2020.

Sara Cocker and Léonie Higgins

Sara Cocker and Léonie Higgins

Sara Cocker and Léonie Higgins have been working together for seven years as two-thirds of Manchester’s Eggs Collective: writer-performers making sharp, fun, culturally-observational work. With a background in cabaret-theatre, they have taken their live shows to the Edinburgh Fringe, Latitude Festival and Soho Theatre and across the UK in two national tours.

In 2017 they adapted their live show ‘Get A Round’ for BBC2’s Performance Live strand, followed up by ‘Smile Love It Might Never Happen’, a mini-series for BBC iplayer. The shows were respectively nominated for Best Comedy Programme at The Royal Television Society NW Awards in 2018 and 2019.

Most recently, with support from The Space, they made a trio of mockumentary shorts, ‘Amazing Men’, presented online and on screen as part of HOME’s Orbit Festival. They regularly collaborate with communities across the north of England to create performance shaped by people and place, including a show for Accrington Market, a parade for St Helens and a power ballad for Preston.

Agent: Kate Haldane at PBJ

@SaraCocker

@LeonieKate

@EggsCollective

Olivia Hannah

Olivia Hannah

Olivia Hannah is a Newcastle-based playwright. She was a member of the 2017/2018 Royal Court Writers’ Group (North), during which she wrote her first full-length play, Braids, which was longlisted for the 2018 Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play. Braids will be performed as part of double bill at Live Theatre in April 2020. She was a 2018/2019 Associate Artist at Live Theatre in Newcastle where her short play Home for Christmas was performed as part of the Live Theatre Christmas Crackers show in December 2018. Her short play Michelle was performed at The Exchange in October 2019 as part of Workie Ticket Theatre Company’s Women Warriors project, working with female veterans to share their experiences. She received an Early Development award from the BFI to write a treatment for the Braids feature and is currently working on the first draft of the screenplay.

@_oliviahannah_

Kerry Kolbe

Kerry Kolbe

Born in rural Cumbria, Kerry's unconventional upbringing with artist parents was culturally rich but financially poor, so for a long time the idea of relying on writing for a living felt frivolous and terrifying to her. Instead, after studying psychology and working as a journalist, at age 25 Kerry set up a company with a friend, raising millions to set up a media centre and make films with under-represented residents of Barrow-in-Furness.

In 2013, Kerry directed the Oscar-qualifying short documentary The German Who Came to Tea and was a fellow of the Clore Leadership Programme. This led to a placement at Kudos Film and TV and she then spent three years at UCLA studying screenwriting before taking up a place at the National Film and Television School and she graduated with a Masters in Screenwriting in 2019. Kerry's script SWALLOW won the 2019 Cinestory Feature Fellowship and was finalist in numerous international competitions.

@kerrykolbe

Houmi Miura

Houmi Miura

Manchester based Houmi is a Japanese British female writer, theatre-maker and actor. She trained in an MA in Professional Acting at ALRA North and has been making contemporary theatre in a variety of ways for 5 years. Houmi has previously produced and provided dramaturgical advice for JACK THE LAD at Hope Mill Theatre (2016).

In 2019, Houmi was awarded a Made at HOME grant, a SLATE commission and Arts Council funding to create her 1 woman show, IN THE BEGINNING WOMAN WAS THE SUN.

@houmimiura

Sarah Nelson

Sarah Nelson

Sarah’s first play Flatmates was selected for The National Students Drama Festival while she was a student at The Central School of Speech and Drama. She taught Drama for seven years before leaving to pursue writing and directing. She has worked with a variety of community organisations and Theatre companies. She is associate writer at the nationally renowned Oldham Theatre Workshop and Artistic Director of Big Umbrella Theatre Company for Adults with Learning Disabilities. She is a visiting lecturer at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and The University of Salford. She was the 2019 winner of the INSPIRE award for Women in Film, Art and Media and her play, ‘Letter to Boddah’ won a BOBBY award for Best at the fringe 2019. Recent credits include, ‘The Secret of Christmas Eve’, (Oldham Library) ‘Prom’ (Oldham Coliseum) ‘Letter to Boddah’ (Edinburgh Fringe). In 2016, she was commissioned to write and direct the opening of the new Odeon cinema in Oldham, a large scale outdoor performance, ‘On The Shoulders of Giants’. She is currently directing Oldham Theatre Workshop’s Actors House company, in their original piece ‘Because Brian Cox says so’.

@snoutymctrotter

Samran Rathore

Samran Rathore

Samran Rathore is an actor, spoken word artist and playwright. He is co-artistic director of British Asian led theatre company Tribe Arts and his writing and poetry include stories of identity and belonging.

His mission is to elevate the British Asian and Muslim presence on television from current stereotypes in order to change societal perceptions as well as challenging cultural expectations.

He is currently working on an anthology with Peepal Tree Press to publish his poetry later this year.

He also holds a MA in Race and Resistance from the University of Leeds and a Law degree.

@SamranRathore

Kat Rose-Martin

Kat Rose-Martin

Kat was born and is based in Bradford working on a slate of projects and ideas across film, theatre and television. She made it to the final 4% of 2019 BBC Writersroom for Drama and was a finalist in BAFTA Rocliffe TV Drama.

Kat is the writer in Residence at Sneaky Experience. She has also worked with Out of Joint workshopping her play £1 Thursdays. She was commissioned by the Bronte Society for her co-written play Jane Hair and is currently working on a commissioned audio series with Audible as well as MyDG, an online Interactive series based on CBBC’s The Dumping Ground.

Kat is currently on The Bank at Sheffield Theatres, a 14-strong cohort of writers, directors and producers who are supported and mentored by the theatres.

Kat is the inagural winner of the Kay Mellor Fellowship, giving her the unique opportunity to develop a stage play at Leeds Playhouse and a TV project at Rollem Productions.

Agent: Jennifer Thomas at United Agents

@KatMartin92

Eve Steele

Eve Steele

Eve is an award-winning writer and performer who has written several plays for radio and stage. Her most recently broadcast Radio 4 play, Torn, was a finalist for Best Single Drama, 2020 BBC Audio Drama Awards. Her latest 45 minute radio play, Grow, was recorded in January 2020 and is part of the series Fault Lines, narrated by Glenda Jackson. Eve has recently been commissioned by HOME to write a full length play for their main stage. She has also just been commissioned to write a full length show for Chester Storyhouse and Fallen Angels Dance Theatre. Eve grew up in Moss Side, Manchester, became involved in drugs and crime at a young age and is now clean, sober and (relatively) functional, with two children and a lot of stories to tell.

@_evka_

Jacob Welby

Jacob Welby

Jacob Welby is a Sheffield-adopted screenwriter and filmmaker. He is one-third of Hidden Picture Films, a production company specialising in the representation of hard-to-reach communities within the North.

Jacob’s screenplays combine dark humour with genuine heart. His short radio play ‘Bangers and Mash and Infidelity’ won Script Yorkshire’s radio play competition. His short (and very NSFW) animations reached mild viral fame and have been shown in international festivals.

He is currently co-directing a horror short about dealing with anxiety and writing a new feature length micro-budget film. His monologue ‘The Dregs At The End Of The Night’ is being performed at the Leeds Literary Festival in March.

When not writing in the third person, Jacob enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons and taking dogs for walks.

@JacobTWelby

Joseph Willis

Joseph Willis

Born and currently living in Sheffield, Joseph has always written from a young age, inventing horror stories in his backyard after accidentally seeing ‘Alien’ when he was 5. Whilst at York University, he set up his own horror theatre company Danse Macabre Productions which was nominated for the Les Enfants Terribles Award 2018. Danse Macabre Productions also run the London Horror Festival Playwriting Competition; with the festival itself being co-produced by Joseph and the Artistic Director, Katy Danbury. Over the past 2 years, Joseph has begun to move into film, developing scripts with the BFI, FNA Digital, Kato Films and filmmakers Grandmas and Simon Dymond.

He is a Gemini, a vegan (not another one), a lover of Singin in the Rain and his style can be described as darkly humorous surrealist realism, as if David Cronenberg and Andrea Arnold had joined forces and decided to write a sitcom.

@fallsoveralot

Alfred Bradley Bursary Award - Winner Announced

2019-07-18T10:53:57+00:00

Alfred Bradley Bursary Award: (left to right) Alex Clarke (winner) and Jill O'Halloran (runner-up)

We are delighted to announce that Alex Clarke is the 2019 Winner of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award with BBC Radio Drama North.

From 279 submissions, the finalists were:

Geraldine Lang
Mandip Dhesi
Jill O’Halloran (Runner Up)
Stephen Collins
Alex Clarke (Winner)

The winner of the 2019 Award, Alex Clarke said:

“I didn’t expect to win. I dared not dream it, just in case I broke my own heart. As it sinks in it feels magnificent, like space opening up and expanding before me. I guess it’s the feeling of freedom. The shape of my life has changed overnight – the bursary means I can focus on writing and deepening my craft further with the help of exceptionally talented people at the BBC. I also get to tell a story to the world and this is no easy task for an autistic like me (who has selective mutism) I don’t often get to speak, let alone tell a story. So this is my personal fairy-tale come true. I cannot thank my mentor Nadia Molinari, the judges, and the family enough. I’m still lost for words. But I’m looking forward to the year ahead, feeling freer than ever before.”

The Runner-Up, Jill O'Halloran said:

“I am shocked, thrilled and incredibly honoured to be the runner-up in the Alfred Bradley Award. Like many other people, competitions like Alfred Bradley have been my only chance to break into writing. It’s a huge leap of faith to commit a story to paper and then have it judged by other people and so I am pleased I finished my script and pressed the submit button. Many congratulations to everyone else who did the same and entered the Alfred Bradley Award and of course, huge congratulations to the winner. “

Find out about previous winners of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award

Read about the previous winner, Piers Black, and what happened next

4 New Short Audio Dramas Commissioned

2019-06-27T16:25:23+00:00

BBC Writersroom recently worked once again in collaboration with BBC Radio Drama North and the BBC Radio 3 programme The Verb (Radio 3's cabaret of the word, featuring the best poetry, new writing and performance, presented by Ian McMillan). Writers had the opportunity to be commissioned to write a 5 minute audio drama script and appear as a guest on one of the programmes. This time around, they were challenged to create a piece based on the theme of "Space" and each one of the successful writers gave it a unique translation.

Faith Lawrence, Producer of The Verb, shared her thoughts on this year's scheme:

"The writers of the 2019 Verb dramas brought us short dramas that played with tone and language, in unpredictable and intriguing ways. The writers dived deep into the names of characters (in ‘Hag Stones’), explored the resonance of particle physics for relationships (‘A Quark In My Cosmos’), entered the vocabulary of desire (‘Personal Space’) and exposed the language of power and control (‘Borders’). Each one allowed us to see how we are writing our lives – like an x-ray of the present moment in sound. They all enlivened and enriched the programmes that featured them."

The writers were relatively new to audio drama and made discoveries during the process, not just about the medium, but also about their own writing.

Please enjoy listening to their Verb Dramas and find out more about their experiences below.

Listen to Personal Space written by Matthew Ingram and performed by James Quinn and David Judge.

'Personal Space' by Matthew Ingram

One of the things that particularly struck me about the process of taking 'Personal Space' from script to broadcast was how different the experiences were when drafting production scripts rather than spec' scripts. I wasn't going to be at the piece's recording, and I knew that the record was going to be quick (only two hours to record the whole thing, in fact). With this in mind, I had to think as much as possible about clarity in my production scripts, considering whether I'd expressed everything I wanted to as clearly as I possibly could before handing the script over to producer/director Lorna Newman and her team to create the final piece.

All those things I'd heard or read about scripts becoming roadmaps, blueprints, templates or 'a series of provocations', as Simon Stephens calls them, became true then. Which isn't to say that the artistic processes involved in writing an initial spec script are invalid - all the questions around what you're saying and how you're saying it are totally necessary and are ultimately what drive the piece - but writing Personal Space made me realise that at the point of writing for production, I had to think much more pragmatically about the script - because just writing the thing wasn't the end goal anymore, the end goal was making the thing, and the script was the only place that I could influence the decisions being made.

That's a more concrete learning, I guess, but a more abstract learning from the process was learning that I could write for radio. I remember chatting with Head of BBC Writersroom Anne Edyvean and Script Editor, Marigold Joy, about a year ago and being asked about what radio drama I enjoyed. I told them that, while I'd read and enjoyed copies of verse plays or poetry collections that had originally been written for radio, such as Pink Mist or Black Roses, I didn't think that radio drama was 'for me'. I didn't listen to Radio 4 or Radio 3, where most radio drama is commissioned, so in my head at the time, that obviously meant that I wouldn't be particularly interested in writing radio drama.

Writing Personal Space taught me that there is a space for me in radio drama, and has inspired me to challenge myself to write in media or genres that I don't think are 'for me'; to deal with curve balls such as unexpected opportunities to write in unfamiliar media in my own way, and to trust my sense of voice to carry me through that.*

*And you can bet I listen to a lot more Radio 4 and Radio 3 now!

Listen to Hag Stones, written by Allison Davies and performed by Sacha Parkinson, James Quinn and Angela Lonsdale

'Hag Stones' by Allison Davies

I love audio drama, so I was thrilled when I had the opportunity to pitch for The Verb Dramas on BBC Radio 3. There’s a beautiful intimacy about radio. You can take your audience anywhere you want to go. Anyone for a trip into the event horizon? Well, maybe I’ll keep that in my back pocket for next time.

The idea for Hag Stones, came from a small beach in Northumberland, a ‘thin place’ where you can imagine stepping into other worlds. Sometimes we don’t realise our own worth and I wanted to explore that, and write something that was ultimately hopeful, which is where my character Ellie came in.

I was lucky enough to work with Producer/Director Sally Richardson who did a brilliant job, helping me knock the final draft into shape and looking after the recording, and I was proud and delighted when I heard the finished piece go out. The process did wonders for my confidence too. It was inclusive from start to finish and made me even more passionate about writing longer pieces for radio.

Listen to Borders, written by Willow Mirza, performed by James Quinn, David Judge and Sacha Parkinson

'Borders' by Willow Mirza

Verbs the Word…

When I was asked to write something for BBC Radio 3 I jumped at the chance and immediately sat down to write a symphony that would smash old Wolfgang out of the water. I was then politely informed it was a Radio Drama they were after… probably for the best, I haven’t touched a piano since I was 8 and that was on one of those keyboards with the light up keys.

Coming up through the BBC Comedy Writers Room, The Verb was my first REAL job so I was bright eyed and full of wonder about what the script to production journey would involve. After submitting my script ‘Borders’ I was put in touch with Emily Demol the producer I’d be working with to get my drama from paper to airwaves. With Emily’s guidance I spent a week or so on re writes (this sounds terrifying, but mostly we just chatted about our favourite TV shows, and agreed to change a few words here and there to tighten up the script).

Any new writers out there wondering how to even start in this over-saturated market, I urge you to give radio a go it’s a great medium (and if you make it on to The Verb the amount of cake they give you is unbelievable).

Listen to A Quark in my Cosmos, written by Jesse Schwenk, performed by James Quinn and Angela Lonsdale

'A Quark in my Cosmos" by Jesse Schwenk

This is the first time I’ve written for radio. But I really love The Verb programme and its celebratory atmosphere, so that was very inspirational.

I think I learnt two things:

Firstly, 5 minutes is very short, practically a micro-drama, so the events of your story already have to be at quite a high level of pressure: the stakes have to be high and events coming to a head. Don’t wait for anything, plunge straight in, at the near-apex of the crisis. Trust that the audience will pick it up.

BUT at the same time the audience needs the situation set up quickly and clearly, so they can orientate themselves. For example, in Quark, Brenda started life as a vague-ish character, probably Ian’s sympathetic work colleague; in later drafts she became the cleaner, because it established her role for the audience more quickly and definitely, and also explained how she might be all over the building and know a bit about everyone’s business.

The second thing I learnt is that radio as a dramatic medium is much more fluid than I thought; it’s alright to let the atmospheres dominate. For instance, you can be in a perfectly ordinary scene – say two friends discussing something in the aisle of a supermarket – and then one of the friends starts thinking about something that bothering them – and radio will just happily move off to this much more internalised place and follow that character’s inner voice and thoughts, or even go to something more abstract, like the narrator’s voice, or discussing a topic that’s poetic but relevant (e.g. in Quark’s case it was the life of subatomic particles).

So in Quark, my excellent director Andrew Smith encouraged me to experiment and play about. In the opening scene, what started in the first draft as a dialogue (between Brenda and Ian) followed by a monologue (from Ian) became much more ‘layered’: in the final draft, as Brenda drones on, Ian wafts off into another world, of thinking about Richard and the delicious world of quarks and quantum particles – until he’s brought back down to earth by Brenda.

I learnt that radio is a very poetic medium, and as long as you have a strong line on the emotional journey of the characters, radio can wander through different layers – e.g. realistic dialogue, narration, inner thoughts, music – without the thread of the story being lost.

I’ve got the radio bug now. Luckily, I’ve got another commission for an episode of an upcoming BBC Sounds podcast series, and the writers are really being encouraged to push the boundaries and mix things up, which is great.

I’d encourage everyone to think about writing for radio. Really, it’s an amazing medium, prosaic and poetic all at the same time; you can set anything anywhere – the possibilities are endless. There’s no medium quite like it.

Listen to The Verb on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds

Listen to our recent Music Monologues from new writers for BBC Radio 3 - each inspired by a different piece of music

Introducing the Northern Voices Writers 2019

2019-05-15T14:53:01+00:00

We are delighted to announce the writers for our Northern Voices development group for 2018/19.

Northern Voices is a scheme for exciting diverse writing talent based in the North of England. The group is made up of ten writers, who are halfway through a 12 month development programme, looking to expand their writing skills and break into writing for broadcast.

These are writers we have been identified through BBC Writersroom schemes and open submission opportunities, talent scouting and by recommendations through our partnerships with new writing groups and theatres in the North of England.

Over the course of a year we work with and support these ten writers, who participate in workshops and training on writing for radio, television, film and digital platforms. Monthly sessions are led by industry professionals from across the broadcast landscape and involve a mix of masterclasses, practical writing and pitching workshops, networking opportunities and the chance to discuss and share work. They also work on a spec' script and receive script-editing support.

Some members of the group have already had short drama scripts developed and produced to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3's The Verb as part of a joint initiative with BBC Writersroom.

We’re excited to work with these writers and help them gain further BBC broadcast commissions.

Meet the Northern Voices 2018/19 below:

BBC Writersroom Northern Voices 2018/19. Aina Khan, Georgia Affonso, Guleraana Mir, Mandip Singh Desi, Zodwa Nyoni, Steven Routledge, Tony Schumacher, Allison Davies, Sharma Walfall, Matthew Ingram

Aina J Khan

Aina J Khan is a journalist who has written for Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, VICE, The Independent, and Middle East Eye. She has worked in broadcast with ITV News and on numerous documentaries examining topical social issues with ITN Productions, Channel 4, BBC Three. Over the last three years, she has worked with Southbank Centre, the UK’s largest arts centre, on the Women of the World (WOW) Bradford festival, which celebrates women and young girls and takes a frank look at the obstacles they face. Earlier this year, she wrote her first play on a British-Pakistani teenager’s love for Michael Jackson’s music which made its debut at the Bradford Literature Festival.

Georgia Affonso

Georgia Affonso is a script writer and theatre maker who specialises in comedy and storytelling. Georgia was the first Associate Young Writer for Northern Broadsides and wrote 'From the Ashes' a project linking BTEC students from Calderdale College to Northern Broadsides' production of Hard Times.

In 2017 Georgia wrote ‘Hornsea’ for Here and Now, a commission for Lit UP as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017 in collaboration with playwright John Godber and two young playwrights which toured libraries and arts centres in the East Riding.

In 2016, Georgia was selected for The Writing Squad, a programme supporting young writers based in the North of England.

Georgia is co-manager of No Door Theatre, a female-focused theatre company that performs ‘pay-what-you-feel’ productions and scratch theatre nights in fringe venues. No Door Theatre produced Georgia’s first play ‘forgive-me-not’ at Zifferblat Edge St, in December 2016.

She frequently collaborates with composer Sophie Sully. Recently they have produced 'Three poems by an Angry Bird' for Collective31, 'Salt Fiend' a spoken-word piece for No Dice Collective, ‘Stick-Stock-Stone Dead’ for Manchester University Music Society’s Estival and ‘Dora’ produced by Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera.

Georgia graduated from the Music and Drama undergraduate degree at the University of Manchester in 2016.

Guleraana Mir

Guleraana is a writer, theatre practitioner and one half of The Thelmas, a female-led theatre company devoted to empowering women to redress the equality imbalance in the arts. She is passionate about creating diverse stories that are rooted in our modern society and using her voice to explore what makes us human.

Her debut play Coconut premiered at Ovalhouse, London in April followed by a national tour. It earned her an OFFIE nomination for most promising playwright. She regularly writes for community and youth groups and has recently worked with organisations such as AGE UK Westminster, Unicorn Theatre, Rightful Place Theatre and Peer Productions.

Mandip Singh Desi

Mandip Singh Dhesi is a freelance screenwriter from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. He holds a B.A in Art History and Religious Studies and an M.A in International Development and Education from the University of Leeds.

He spent a year teaching English in China after completing his TEFL qualification and also spent time in India where he completed a certificate in Film-making from the Institute of Moving Images (IMI) after which he wrote, produced and directed three short films.

Mandip has travelled the world twice and lived on three continents. He is a lover of the arts, thrives on new challenges and has a taste for adventure.

He has been screenwriting for just over twelve months and was this year longlisted by the BBC Writersroom for the Kudos North Writers’ Award and made the Second round at both the Nicholl and Austin Screenwriting Competitions. Mandip has also reached the shortlist for the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award for BBC Radio Drama run in partnership with BBC Writersroom.

Zodwa Nyoni

Zodwa is a playwright and poet. She was the 2014 Writer-in-Residence at the Leeds Playhouse via the Channel 4 Playwrights’ Scheme. She has previously been Apprentice Poet-in-Residence at Ilkely Literature Festival (2013) and BBC Radio Leeds (2006).

Plays include: ODE TO LEEDS (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2017), WEATHERED ESTATES (Hull 2017 City of Culture / Roaring Girls ,2017) and BOI BOI IS DEAD (Co-production between West Yorkshire Playhouse, Tiata Fahodzi & Watford Palace Theatre, 2015). She was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2015. Radio credits include: SONNETS IN THE CITY: LOVE AGAIN (BBC Radio 3, 2016). Her work is published by Bloomsbury.

Zodwa is currently working on her Radio 3 Drama, ‘A Khosian Woman’ which will be recorded on location at Summerhall during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Steven Routledge

I am a fifty year old writer for life, having written anything and everything since I was old enough to hold a pen. I am married with two teenage daughters and live in Newcastle upon Tyne. My day job is a senior Pharmacy manager in the largest mental health NHS Trust in the country.

I have always written in any genre, and any time period, and I love to learn new things and discover new ways of telling stories. I have written dozens of short stories, novels, stage plays and screenplays, latterly concentrating on screenplays as my medium of choice.

I have had my screenplays longlisted by BBC Writersroom many times, and made it to the interview stage for Drama Room 2018, which led to me being part of Northern Voices. I have also been shortlisted for the 2016 North Tyneside Library’s Short Story competition.

Tony Schumacher

Tony Schumacher had one dream when he was a kid, and that was to be a writer. Instead of becoming a writer he bombed out of school aged 16 with no qualifications and a sigh of relief. He worked his way around the world as a roofer, a jeweller, a bouncer, a barman, a binman, and on board cruise ships selling underpants, before eventually returning to Liverpool to become a response policeman dealing with 999 jobs morning, noon and nights.

Eleven years later, after a breakdown and a period of homelessness, he found himself driving a taxi around the night-time streets of Liverpool. That was when he remembered his dream and finally started to write.

His first three novels have since been published by HarperCollins in the USA, and since then he has been mentored by Jimmy McGovern as part of the ScreenSkills High End TV Writers Bursary Scheme (2018) and been invited to join the BBC Writersroom Northern Voices Scheme. He has recently been commissioned by LA Productions to write Episode 3 of Clink, a new Female Prison Drama for Channel 5.

Allison Davies

Allison is a writer from north East England.

She has published short stories and poetry in a number of lit zines. Her work for theatre has been presented at a variety of venues including Northern Stage, ARC Stockton, Live Theatre, CAST, Camden People's Theatre, Alphabetti Theatre and in Prague.

In 2011 Allison was listed for the Alfred Bradley award and in 2012 her screenplay ‘Swimming Lessons’ was shortlisted for BBC Drama Room. Her first play ‘Weather to Fly’ was produced in 2013. Allison has recently had her short radio drama, ‘Hagstones’ broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb (Listen Now at 31'36 into the programme).

She is currently working on The Devil Danced in Our Eyes, a collaboration for theatre with writer/performer JonLuke McKie, a radio drama, and has recently been given a place on the BFI Northern Exposure Short Film Lab where she will be getting her first film off the ground.

Sharma Walfall

Sharma was born and raised in Manchester and graduated from Salford University with a BA in Media and Performance. In 2015 she won the inaugural Channel 4 & Northumbria University Northern Writers Award. Subsequently receiving a placement with Lime Pictures where she wrote her first televised credit – an episode of HOLLYOAKS which aired in January last year.

Since then Sharma has been developing her original series ideas including OUT OF BOUNDS which was awarded a development commission with TriForce Creative Network Writer’s Incubator and was subsequently read as part of Sky’s popular industry table reads.

Sharma has made it to the final stage of Original Voices Emmerdale and will start a seven week placement in the story office in late October this year. She has recently been selected to be mentored by Jack Thorne as part of the Screenskills and Dancing Ledge scheme, where she will receive a development bursary to work on one of her other original serial drama ideas. She is also a finalist for the ITV and Red Planet Pictures Prize. Sharma’s writing is tender, she writes young voices with aplomb and is exceptionally deft at crafting ensemble multi-stranded drama. Sharma is represented by David Kayser at Casarotto & Ramsay Associates.

Matthew Ingram

Matthew is a Welsh-born, Northern-adopted writer who writes principally for theatre. He has been developed by Sherman Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and The Writing Squad, is currently working on projects independently and with Northern Broadsides. Matthew was shortlisted for the 2018 BBC Writersroom Drama Room.

Northern Voices is his first venture into writing for broadcast media and he has already had his short radio drama, ‘Personal Space’ developed and broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb. Listen Now (at 19'00" into the programme)

Alfred Bradley Bursary Award - Shortlisted Writers Announced

2019-01-22T15:14:01+00:00

We are delighted to announce the five writers who have been shortlisted for this year's Alfred Bradley Bursary Award with BBC Radio Drama North.

The writers are:

Geraldine Lang
Mandip Dhesi
Jill O’Halloran
Stephen Collins
Alex Clarke

These five writers have now each been assigned a mentor and will undertake a three month development process with BBC Radio Drama North to work on their submission, ahead of the winner being announced.

The Alfred Bradley Bursary is a £5000 award for a Northern writer who is new to radio. The winner also gets a 12 month mentorship with a BBC Radio Drama producer and the opportunity to gain a BBC Radio 4 drama commission.

This year we received 279 submissions in total of which 12 percent made it to the longlist.

Find out about previous winners of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award

Read about the previous winner, Piers Black, and what happened next

Kudos North Writers' Award - Winners Announced

2018-02-28T17:06:46+00:00

We are delighted to announce Katie Mulgrew, Helen Black and Niki Rooney have been named winners of the Kudos North Writers Award.

The awards, run in conjunction with the BBC Writersroom, were launched in October 2017 to identify and nurture emerging northern voices. Judges were overwhelmed by the standard of entries. So much so that 3, rather than the previously stipulated 2, winners have been selected.

The 3 winners each receive a £2000 prize to option their idea and bring it into development with Kudos North (the Manchester based production arm of Kudos) under the mentorship from acclaimed northern writers Danny Brocklehurst and Stephen Butchard.

From 300 scripts received, 23 were invited to submit a one-page pitch for a TV drama series idea. These were read by judges and whittled down to 6. These top 6 were invited to BBC Media City in Manchester to pitch their idea to a panel including Ayela Butt, BBC Drama Co –Commissioner, Anne Edyvean, Head of the BBC Writersroom, Sarah Stack, Head of Development at Kudos and Laura Conway Development Producer at Kudos North.

Meet the winners:

Katie Mulgrew

Katie Mulgrew is a writer and stand-up comedian from Rochdale, Manchester. Katie had her first full length play, Omnibus, staged at the Liverpool Unity Theatre in 2017. She has written for BBC Radio 4’s Newsquiz and script edited the award winning short film 'Ctrl Z'.

"I'm so thrilled to be one of the recipients of the Kudos North Award. I entered my script because I just couldn't miss the chance to work with a production house like Kudos whose output I've long greatly admired. This script and the characters have become very close to my heart and to see BBC Writersoom and the development team at Kudos respond so well to them has given me such confidence in my writing. I can't wait to get cracking and develop my ideas further with Kudos North."

Helen Black

Helen Black is an author from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, who has 6 published books in her Lily Valentine series alongside a new fiction series called Taking Liberties. Prior to writing Helen worked as a lawyer mainly representing children in the care system.

"I'm always banging on about the lack of northern voices in the arts, particularly northern working class women. So when I heard about the award, I thought I'd better put my money where my (big) mouth is.

Being invited to pitch my series idea in Media City was incredibly exciting. I prepared for the big day by losing my hearing (never dance next to the speakers) twisting my ankle and catching the mother of all colds. But I was determined to enjoy it and just be myself (the limping, sneezing version).

I'm still buzzing from the whole process and can't wait to get cracking on the next stage. I'm going to learn everything I can from some real heavy weights in this industry and hopefully make some fantastic telly."

Niki Rooney

Niki Rooney is a writer from Glasgow who has spent the vast majority of her writing career in Liverpool writing for young adults. Niki has written extensively for Hollyoaks (C4) and tween drama Ride (Nickelodeon).

"I applied for the award after a tough personal and professional year in which everything that could go wrong turned into a total disaster! I never expected anything to come out of it, beyond the satisfaction of meeting a deadline at last. My spec script was the result of two years of research and writing about a difficult subject matter, but it turned out to be worth the long slog. To be longlisted came as a complete surprise and felt like I'd finally been rewarded for surviving my nightmare year! I was encouraged and revived, and poured that into creating my new pitch. I felt it embodied both my enthusiasm for writing characters who are rarely represented on television and my desire to make people laugh, even when life really sucks. When I was shortlisted, I did my research, prepared my best anecdotes about my personal experiences and went into the interview feeling super confident about pitching... then nerves got the better of me and I went veering off course! But ultimately I think my passion for the story and characters, and why they matter and deserve a place on television, and making the panel laugh saved the day for me!

Winning the award has made me feel visible and listened to in an industry where, as a writer, you often feel like you're shouting into an abyss. I'm looking forward to creating a bold, modern and unique show with the support of Kudos North, that will make other people feel visible and listened to as well, whilst also finding points of commonality and humour that will appeal to everyone."

The winners will now be given one-on-one support by Kudos North in developing their idea before presenting to BBC commissioner Mona Qureshi and co-commissioner Ayela Butt.