Hot 100 2012 WRITERS


1 Steven Moffat


and Mark Gatiss Sherlock; Doctor Who


Does Steven Moffat write as fast as his characters talk? That can be the only explanation for his prolifi c work rate, and his ability to steer two of the biggest jewels in the BBC crown. Few 90-minute dramas are as pacy as Sherlock and, after unleashing the hit of the summer in 2010, Moffat and Mark Gatiss upped their game for series two, teasing viewers from Irene Adler’s strip- tease to The Reichenbach Fall’s ultimate cliffhanger. Meanwhile, thanks to support from BBC America, Moffat took Doctor Who to an increasingly cinematic level while spinning a time-crossed storyline that required various interactive online charts to untangle. Gatiss has penned his fi fth Doctor Who script for the upcoming series and the pair are now thrashing out stories for Sherlock’s yet-to-be-scheduled next set of cases. Little wonder that Moffat received this year’s Bafta Special Award, which rec- ognised his contribution to TV.


with some edge. Jones farmed out some of the scripts but remained a hands-on showrunner with her thumbprint indelible in every frame. She’s now hard at work on series two.


Title for years: pull off an adap- tation of Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong. Her fi lms equally dem- onstrated her versatility: from Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady to a sex addict in the much- admired Shame.


Bad Sugar, a Dynasty-esque spoof co-created with the dream team cast of Olivia Colman, Sharon Horgan and Julia Davis.


4 Ruth Jones Stella 3 Sam Bain and


Jesse Armstrong Fresh Meat; Peep Show


2 Abi Morgan The Hour; Birdsong


It’s been a phenomenal year for Abi Morgan, who at one point had two fi lms and a major series playing out at the same time. With The Hour, she crammed in political intrigue, romance, spy shenanigens and life behind the scenes of a 1950s BBC news maga zine show, without ever losing her focus. This ambitious and stylish work attracted a star cast and is Morgan’s fi rst continu- ing drama series – and BBC2’s fi rst returning drama since The Cops a decade ago. Mean- while, she managed to do what had eluded producer Working


16 | Broadcast | Hot 100


The Peep Show pair shifted gears last year, taking on the tricky comedy drama genre and becom- ing showrunners for the fi rst time on Channel 4’s Fresh M . Their defi ned, recognisable char- acters and, crucially, some left- fi eld turns in casting, lay the groundwork for a string of


eat


writers, both newcomers and old hands, to take the storylines on. Just eight episodes in, it already feels like a staple of the C4 schedule and has picked up RTS and


British Comedy awards. Meanwhile, they’ve got at least two more series of Peep Show to deliver and occupy a central place in C4’s ‘Funny Fort- night’ this


August with


“I’m not a sitcom person” was Ruth Jones’ reply to Sky 1 director of programmes Stuart Murphy’s suggestion for a “British Rose- anne”. Jones talked him into a 60-minute comedy drama instead and the result, in which she starred in the title role, became the second-biggest multi channel comedy launch to date, according to Sky, pulling in 1.2 million viewers on average. Jones populated the show, a clear labour of love, with a rich mix of characters in a fi ctionalised but fully drawn village in the Welsh Valleys, and it fi t Sky 1’s brief of being warm and accessible but


5 Heidi Thomas


Call The Midwife; Upstairs Downstairs


Following up the dazzling success of Cranford was no small task, but Heidi Thomas has struck gold again with another period adapta- tion that eschews A-Level set texts for a path less travelled. With Call The Midwife, Thomas created a phenomenon: the BBC’s biggest drama launch in more than a decade. It won its slot at launch with 9.8 million viewers – and an immediate recommission – but the industry was stunned to watch this fi gure grow over the course of the series to peak with 11.4 million for its fi nale, as word got around that this was far from a quaint piece of Sunday night BBC1 cosiness and had things to say. The fi nale also gave Thomas a rare double as Upstairs Downstairs took up the baton straight after- wards; Midwife’s runaway success was more than compensation for that series’ gradual fade.


Stella www.broadcastnow.co.uk


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