Peter Keeley (screenwriter)
Peter Keeley (born 1983 in Crumpsall Hospital) is a British screenwriter and author. He is the creator of the television series I'm with Stupid,[1][2] which aired on BBC Three, and for his book series The London Road Mysteries.
Peter Keeley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1983 |
| Education | English and Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, 2010 |
| Occupation(s) | author, screenwriter, actor |
| Known for | I'm with Stupid (television series) The London Road Mysteries (book series) |
Early life
[edit]Keeley grew up in Crumpsall, Manchester, and wrote his first play The Role Model at the age of 14. The play focused a disabled boy who struggles to cope with various issues. He received the Scope Millennium Award to develop the play which was performed at Contact Theatre in Manchester where Keeley worked as a wheeling usher.
More Plays and Stand Up/Sit Down comedy were all to follow, all written by Keeley.
Education
[edit]Keeley went to Manchester Metropolitan University where he studied English and Creative Writing. He graduated in 2010.
Career
[edit]The beginning of Keeley's career was a community play for The Royal Exchange, "Colour Blind" in 2002.
Keeley conceived a protagonist and several other characters with disabilities in the series, I'm with Stupid, which won an RTS Northwest Award for Best New Comedy in 2005. In 2007, The Farrelly Brothers made an American pilot of the show for NBC.[3] The pilot was written by Wil Calhoun, whose credits include Friends.
He has appeared on the BBC One show, A Thing Called Love (2004) and appeared in series two of BBC Radio 4's Comedy Pick-Ups (2009).
Keeley did some presenting work for Channel M Television, and has written a number of articles for the Manchester Evening News.
In 2010, Keeley and others set up an online campaign, 'Disabled Tram Ban', against a bylaw which banned mobility scooters from utilising the Manchester Tram Network. Keeley's work gained media attention and after a while the ban was lifted.[4]
In 2013, Keeley published his first book of Detective Fiction, The Strange Case of Albert Mitchell.[5] He was reportedly inspired to write the series after examining and researching the London Road Fire Station, Manchester, which he learned had formerly served as a police station. fire station and coroner's court.
After The Strange Case of Albert Mitchell (2013), Keeley went on to write a sequel for The London Road Mysteries which released in 2014, The Heaton Park Murder. Keeley then went on to write The Brewery Tap Mystery (2014), completing the trilogy to The London Road Mysteries. The trilogy was then released on Amazon Kindle. However the success of the trilogy led Keeley to write a fourth book to The London Road Mysteries. This instalment to the series, The Mystery Of The Chemist's Folly (2016) is the latest.
In 2018, Keeley was offered a job in a section of the Sky Arts Art 50 Initiative, this being Told By an Idiot. He worked on a project, Let Me Play the Lion Too, an improvisational experiment tackling the lack of diversity on stage, which was performed at the Barbican Theatre in London.[6]
In 2024, Keeley began a UK theatrical run of a play, That Love Thing, compiled from his own archive of poems and writing spanning decades, to create an autobiographical show.[7]
Bibliography & Filmography
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | The Role Model | Writer | Play | received Scope Millennium Award |
| 2002 | Colour Blind | Writer | Play | |
| 2004 | A Thing Called Love | Actor | Television series | |
| 2006 | I'm with Stupid | Creator / Writer | Television series | received RTS Northwest Award for Best New Comedy |
| 2009 | Comedy Pick Ups | Actor | Radio show | BBC Radio 4 |
| 2013 | The Strange Case of Albert Mitchell | Writer | Novel | |
| 2014 | The Heaton Park Murder | Writer | Novel | |
| 2014 | The Brewery Tap Mystery | Writer | Novel | |
| 2016 | The Mystery of the Chemist's Folly | Writer | Novel | |
| 2018 | Let Me Play the Lion Too | Actor | Theatrical presentation | Sky Arts Art 50 Initiative |
| 2024 | That Love Thing | Writer / Actor | Theatrical presentation |
References
[edit]- ^ "BBC - Ouch! (disability) - Features - I'm with Stupid". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
- ^ News, Manchester Evening (2009-06-16). "Opinion: Peter Keeley". men. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ I'm with Stupid, retrieved 2020-08-25
- ^ "Tram ruling on mobility scooters is ruining my life". Manchester Evening News. 2010-06-29. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- ^ "The Strange Case of Albert Mitchell (The London Road Mysteries, #1)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
- ^ "Let Me Play The Lion Too". Told by an Idiot. 23 June 2019. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- ^ Manchester, HOME. "That Love Thing". HOME. Retrieved 2024-11-06.