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Ashley Pharoah

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Ashley Pharoah
Born (1959-09-13) 13 September 1959 (age 65)
Southampton, United Kingdom
OccupationScreenwriter and television producer.
NationalityEnglish
EducationQueen Elizabeth's Hospital; University Of Sussex; National Film And Television School.
GenreDrama, science fiction
Notable worksLife on Mars
Ashes to Ashes
Wild at Heart
Notable awardsInternational Emmy

Ashley Pharoah (born 13 September 1959) is a British screenwriter and television producer. He is best known as the co-creator/writer of the successful drama series Life on Mars, which began on BBC One in 2006, and creator/writer of the family drama Wild at Heart, which aired on ITV1 from 2006 until 2012.

Early life

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Pharoah attended Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, an independent school in Bristol.[1]

Career

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Pharoah began his television writing career on the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1991, on which he worked for four years and where he met co-writer Matthew Graham. He went on in 1994–1995 to contribute five episodes to the popular BBC One drama series Casualty and four episodes to Silent Witness (1996).[2]

For ITV he created the long-running series Where the Heart Is, for which he wrote episodes from 1997 to 2000, and created the BBC One TV programme Down to Earth in 2001. Among other work in the early 2000s he scripted an adaptation of Tom Brown's Schooldays, starring Stephen Fry, for the ITV1 network in 2005.[2]

Meanwhile, Pharoah, Matthew Graham and veteran Eastenders writer Tony Jordan spent years co-creating Life on Mars, which was first shown in 2006, and Pharoah contributed episodes to both series of the show. Other work around this time included creating the series Wild at Heart (2006 – 2012) for Company Pictures and adapting Under the Greenwood Tree for Ecosse Films.[2]

In 2006, he formed Monastic Productions with Matthew Graham. Monastic Productions is involved in the Life on Mars spin-off Ashes to Ashes and co-produced Bonekickers, a six-part drama series about archaeology, set in Bath, Somerset. Both series are productions for BBC One.[3] He has won two International Emmys for "Life on Mars", a series which was remade for ABC in America, starring Harvey Keitel.

In 2010, Pharoah adapted Case Histories, the novel by Kate Atkinson, for the BBC. It stars Jason Isaacs and was a co-production between Monastic Productions and Ruby Television. Other work around this time include "Eternal Law" for ITV and an adaptation of Moonfleet for Sky, starring Ray Winstone. His series The Living And The Dead, starring Colin Morgan, was screened on BBC1 in the summer of 2016.

Pharoah was co-creator, writer and executive producer on an adaptation of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, which starred David Tennant and was screened around the world in 2021.

Accolades

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In February 2011, Pharoah was made an Honorary Fellow of the National Film and Television School; this is awarded "in recognition of outstanding contribution to the British film and television industry".[4]

In a ceremony at Bath Abbey in 2016, Pharoah was made a Doctor of Letters by Bath Spa University for his contribution to screenwriting and television production.

He was awarded the Hamilton Deane Award by the Dracula Society for The Living And The Dead in 2016.

Writing credits

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Production Notes Broadcaster
White Elephant
  • Feature film (co-written with Werner Grusch, 1984)
 N/A
Water's Edge
  • Short film (1988)
 BBC2
EastEnders
  • 25 episodes (1991–1994)
 BBC1
Casualty
  • "Crossing the Line" (1994)
  • "Only the Lonely" (1994)
  • "Not Waving But Drowning" (1995)
  • "Outside Bulawayo" (1995)
  • "Lost Boys" (1995)
 BBC1
Silent Witness
  • "Long Days, Short Nights" (1996)
  • "Darkness Visible" (1996)
 BBC1
Where the Heart Is ITV
City Central
  • "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (1998)
 BBC1
Life Support
  • "Trust" (1999)
  • "The Price of Love" (1999)
  • "Playing God" (1999)
  • "Soul and Conscience" (1999)
  • "The Undiscovered Country" (1999)
 BBC1
Down to Earth
  • 13 episodes (2000–2001)
 BBC1
Anchor Me
  • Television film (2000)
 ITV
Paradise Heights
  • 6 episodes (2002)
 BBC1
The Eustace Bros.
  • 6 episodes (2003)
 BBC1
Hustle
  • "A Touch of Class" (2004)
 BBC1
Tom Brown's Schooldays
  • Television film (2005)
 ITV
Under the Greenwood Tree
  • Television film (2005)
 ITV
Wild at Heart
  • 20 episodes (2006–2012)
 ITV
Life on Mars BBC1
Bonekickers
  • 6 episodes (co-written with Matthew Graham, 2008)
 BBC1
Ashes to Ashes
  • 24 episodes (co-written with Matthew Graham, 2008–2010)
 BBC1
Case Histories
  • "Case Histories, Part 1" (2011)
  • "Case Histories, Part 2" (2011)
 BBC1
Eternal Law
  • 6 episodes (co-written with Matthew Graham, 2012)
 ITV
Moonfleet
  • Television miniseries (2013)
 Sky One
The Living and the Dead
  • 6 episodes (2016)
 BBC1
Around the World in 80 Days
  • Co-creator, showrunner (2021-present)
 BBC1
Journey to the Center of the Earth[5]
  • Television miniseries (TBA)
 BBC1

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Work Category Result Reference
1989 Gold Hugo Water's Edge Best Short Film (with Suri Krishnamma) Nominated
2006 TV Quick Awards Life on Mars Best New Drama (with Matthew Graham and Tony Jordan) Nominated
2007 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Writer's Award (with Matthew Graham and Tony Jordan) Won
2007 TV Quick Awards Best Loved Drama (with Matthew Graham and Tony Jordan) Nominated
2007 Edgar Allan Poe Awards Life on Mars: "Episode 1" Best Television Episode Teleplay Won
2007 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award Life on Mars: Series 2 Soap/Series (TV) (with Chris Chibnall, Mark Greig, Matthew Graham, Guy Jenkin, Tony Jordan and Julie Rutterford) Nominated
2008 Cinéma Tous Ecrans Ashes to Ashes Audience Award for Best International Television Series (with Matthew Graham) Won
2008 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award Television Drama Series (with Matthew Graham, Mark Greig, Julie Rutterford and Mick Ford) Nominated
2010 TRIC Awards TV Crime Programme (with Matthew Graham and Tony Jordan) Nominated
2010 TV Quick Awards Best Drama Series (with Matthew Graham) Won
2010 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award Television Drama Series (with Matthew Graham, Julie Rutterford, Tom Butterworth, Chris Hurford, Jack Lothian and James Payne) Nominated
2011 TRIC Awards TV Drama Programme of the Year (with Matthew Graham) Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Bristol Evening Post 15 July 2008
  2. ^ a b c Monastic Productions biography Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Monastic Productions". Archived from the original on 29 May 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
  4. ^ "Jonathan Ross and Ashley Pharoah Awarded NFTS Honorary Fellowships". National Film and Television School. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  5. ^ Grater, Tom (29 November 2021). "'Around The World In 80 Days' Gets Second Season; Producers Also Developing 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth' Series". Deadline.
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Preceded by NFTS Honorary Fellowship
2011 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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