Andrew Davies | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Davies in 2019 | |
| Born | Andrew Wynford Davies (1936-09-20)20 September 1936 (age 89) Rhiwbina, Cardiff, Wales |
| Occupation | Writer (TV and print) |
| Alma mater | University College London |
| Period | c. 1964–present (as a writer) |
| Genre | Audio andscreenplays,novels |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards | Guardian Prize 1979 BAFTA Fellow 2002 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Thomas Duggan (Grandson) |
Andrew Wynford Davies (/ˈdeɪvɪs/; born 20 September 1936) is a Welshscreenwriter andnovelist, best known for his television adaptations ofTo Serve Them All My Days,House of Cards,Middlemarch,Pride and Prejudice,Bleak House,War & Peace, andLes Misérables, and his original serialA Very Peculiar Practice.[1] He was made aBAFTA Fellow in 2002.
Davies was born inRhiwbina, Cardiff, Wales. He attendedWhitchurch Grammar School in Cardiff and thenUniversity College, London, where he received a BA in English in 1957. He took a teaching position atSt Clement Danes Grammar School in London, where he was on the teaching staff from 1958 to 1961. He held a similar post at Woodberry Down Comprehensive School inHackney, London from 1961 to 1963. Following that, he was a lecturer in English atCoventry College of Education (which later merged with the University of Warwick to become the Faculty of Educational Studies and later the Warwick Institute of Education), and then at theUniversity of Warwick.
In 1960, Davies contributed material to theBBC Home Service'sMonday Night at Home strand, alongsideHarold Pinter andIvor Cutler. He wrote his first play for radio in 1964 and many more were to follow. In 1960, he married Diana Huntley; the couple have a son and daughter. He is resident inKenilworth, Warwickshire.[citation needed]
Davies' first television play,Who's Going to Take Me On?, was broadcast in 1967 as part of BBC1'sThe Wednesday Play strand. His early plays were written as a sideline to his work in education, many of them appearing in anthology series such asThirty Minute Theatre,Play for Today andCentre Stage. One of his London stage plays,Rose, played on Broadway in 1981, withGlenda Jackson andJessica Tandy. His first serial adaptation of a work of fiction wasTo Serve Them All My Days (1980), from the novel byR. F. Delderfield. He wroteA Very Peculiar Practice (1986–88), a campus based comedy-drama series that drew upon his career in education.
He is now best known for his adaptations of classic works of literature for television includingtheCharles Dickens short storyThe Signalman (1976),Pride and Prejudice (1995) starringColin Firth andJennifer Ehle,Vanity Fair (1998),Bleak House (2005) andSense and Sensibility (2008). He is the writer of the screenplays for theBBC productionMiddlemarch (1994) and a planned film of the same name once announced for 2011 release.[2][3]
He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1996.[4]
Davies also co-devised with Bernadette Davis the sitcomGame On for BBC2 and co-wrote the first two series broadcast in 1995 and 1996. The popularity of his adaptation ofMichael Dobbs's political thrillerHouse of Cards (for which Davies won his first Emmy award forOutstanding Writing for a Miniseries) was a significant influence in Dobbs's decision to write two sequels, which Davies also adapted for television. In film, he has collaborated on the screenplays for the first twoBridget Jones films, based onHelen Fielding novels.
He is a prolific writer for children. The first of his novels wasConrad's War, published by Blackie in 1978. Davies won the annualGuardian Children's Fiction Prize, which is judged by a panel of British children's writers and recognises the best book by an author who has not yet won it.[5] He has writtenAlfonso Bonzo (book and television series) and the adventures ofMarmalade Atkins (television series and numerous books). He also wrote the storiesDark Towers andBadger Girl for BBC TV'sLook and Read programmes for schools audiences.
2008 saw the release of his adaptations of the 1999 novelAffinity bySarah Waters,Evelyn Waugh'sBrideshead Revisited (a film),Charles Dickens'Little Dorrit (a BBC series).Little Dorrit won seven of eleven Emmy nominations and earned Davies his second Emmy forOutstanding Writing for a Miniseries.
Adaptations ofDombey and Son, one of Dickens' lesser-read works andAnthony Trollope'sPalliser novels were scrapped by the BBC in late 2009, following a move away from "bonnet dramas".[6]
ITV was looking to recreate its period drama success withDownton Abbey with a new seriesMr Selfridge, written by Davies and starringJeremy Piven.[7] An initial ten-part series first aired on 6 January 2013 and it has run for 4 series by 2016.
Davies' six-part adaptation ofLeo Tolstoy'sWar & Peace was broadcast onBBC One in January and February 2016.[8] Following its success, the BBC announced in July 2016 that it would be followed up with a six-part adaptation ofVictor Hugo'sLes Misérables to be scripted by Davies.[9] In May 2017, it was announced that BBC would adaptVikram Seth's magnum opusA Suitable Boy into an eight-part series to be scripted by Davies.[10]
In May 2018, he announced at the Hay Festival that he is adapting John Updike'sRabbit, Run for television.[11]
Television series and serials[edit]
Television plays[edit]
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Andrew and Diana Davies have written at least two children's picture books.
