Category: THE WRITERS ROOM
Pier pressure
Alex Pina and Esther Martinez Lobato, the creators of Spanish mystery La Embarcadero (The Pier), discuss making the series – their follow-up to 2017 breakout hit La Casa de Papel (Money Heist).
Feeling Sick
Karl Pilkington co-created, co-wrote and stars in his first comedy drama, Sick of It, in which he plays a version of himself whose closest friend is his uncensored alter ego. He and director Richard Yee, Pilkington’s fellow co-writer and co-creator, reveal all to DQ.
Killing it
As US espionage thriller Killing Eve lands in the UK, DQ hears from lead writer and executive producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge about refreshing the genre, infusing drama with comedy and the joy of writing.
Bridge’s end
Camilla Ahlgren, head writer of The Bridge, opens up about the hit Swedish/Danish crime drama and reveals some of the secrets behind making the series.
Age of Innocents
Young love meets the supernatural in Netflix’s original UK drama The Innocents. DQ chats to creators and writers Hania Elkington and Simon Duric about making their first television drama, Norse mythology and shape-shifting.
By The Bay
Writer Daragh Carville tells DQ about creating ITV crime drama The Bay, which was born out of his ambition to put a new twist on a familiar genre.
Good Faith
Matthew Hall, writer of Un Bore Mercher (Keeping Faith), tells DQ about his journey to bring the series to air and the importance of intimacy and location in television drama.
Hagai heads home
Hagai Levi, creator of Israeli drama Be Tipul (In Treatment) and co-creator of US drama The Affair, tells DQ about his latest project, his approach to storytelling and returning “home” to HBO.
Cult hit
Drawing comparisons to The Handmaid’s Tale, Israeli drama Harem shocked viewers with its depiction of life for women and children living with a charismatic cult leader. DQ speaks to the writing team behind the Reshet show, which has been renewed for a second season.
Right on the Money
La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) is a certified phenomenon after Netflix revealed it was the streamer’s biggest non-English-language series ever. DQ hears from creator Alex Pina and writer Esther Martinez Lobato about making the Spanish heist drama.
Safe pair of hands
With so much TV to choose from, viewers can be very fickle – so how do you keep hold of them? Writing for DQ, screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst talks about the contrasting styles he used in his two most recent commissions, BBC1’s Come Home and Netflix’s Safe.
Sweet success
Having turned her own novel Sweetbitter into a six-part drama for US premium cable network Starz, Stephanie Danler tells DQ about the adaptation process and why television today is following in the footsteps of Charles Dickens.
Action on writing inequality
Lisa Holdsworth, TV writer and deputy chairman of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, writes for DQ about the guild’s new campaign for greater gender equality in television and film screenwriting.
You be the judge
Lee Ingleby is out to prove he’s not a murderer in ITV’s emotionally taut four-part drama Innocent. DQ speaks to writers Matt Arlidge, Chris Lang and producer Jeremy Gwilt about putting viewers at the heart of this moral dilemma.
Royal appointment
With the third season of Netflix’s The Crown about to begin production, creator and writer Peter Morgan explains why he keeps going back to the royal family and discusses the pitfalls of depicting real people.
Sun, sea and animals
Writer Simon Nye talks to DQ about writing The Durrells, ITV’s hit family drama about a British family living on the idyllic Greek island of Corfu in the 1930s.
New danger, Will Robinson
Fifty years after it left the small screen, Lost in Space is back. Writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless plus showrunner Zack Estrin discuss making this space adventure, a modern take on Irwin Allen’s classic 1960s series.
Jack of all trades
As British drama Kiri makes its US debut, writer Jack Thorne tells DQ about penning the four-part miniseries and his approach to writing, with upcoming projects including The Eddy and His Dark Materials.
So Farr so good
Screenwriter David Farr talks about his fascination with identity and how it informs the characters at the heart of his television dramas, which include Troy: Fall of a City, The Night Manager and Philip K Dick adaptation Impossible Planet.
Brothers in arms
From starting out writing sitcoms, Jack and Harry Williams struck gold with mystery thriller The Missing. In this DQTV interview, the brothers discuss their writing partnership and breaking traditions with dramas such as Rellik and Liar.