Debbie Horsfield is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 theatre and television writer and producer.

Early life and career

Hosfield was born in Eccles

Eccles, Greater Manchester

Eccles is a town in the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, west of Salford and west of Manchester city centre...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 and she attended Eccles College

Eccles College

Eccles College was an incorporated further education college in Eccles, Greater Manchester, England. It opened in 1973, and ceased to function as an independent body on 1st January 2009. The site continues to function under new management, as the Eccles Centre of Salford City College.The site...

 before studying at Newcastle University.

Horsfield has worked for the Gulbenkian Studio, Newcastle, and for the Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

. Her first plays were Out on the Flool, Away from it All and All You Deserve. She was commissioned to write Red Devils (which later became a trilogy) by the Liverpool Playhouse

Liverpool Playhouse

The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actresses, some of which went on to achieve...

 Studio in 1983, where she stayed for a year under the Thames Television Playwright Scheme. The follow ups to Red Devils were True Dare Kiss, later to be adapted for a TV series, and Command or Promise. A further play was titled Touch and Go (later renamed Revelations).

Television career

In the 1980s Horsfield began her television career by writing 3 series of Making Out

Making Out

Making Out is a British television series, shown by the BBC between 1989 and 1991.The series, written by Debbie Horsfield, mixed comedy and drama in its portrayal of the women who worked on the factory floor at New Lyne Electronics in Manchester, tackling the personal lives of the characters as...

and an episode of Crown Court

Crown Court (TV series)

Crown Court was an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984....

. In the 1990s Horsfield wrote the series Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll

Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll

Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll is a six-part television mini-series which was written and created by Debbie Horsfield and directed by John Woods...

, Born to Run, and The Riff Raff Element

The Riff Raff Element

The Riff Raff Element was a 1990s British television series written by Debbie Horsfield and directed by Jeremy Ancock, who also directed Dressing for Breakfast and episodes of The Bill and Bergerac....

. In the 2000s she began to produce her shows as well as write them; 4 series of the hair salon based Cutting It

Cutting It

Cutting It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005.- Series 1 :...

and the mystery drama True Dare Kiss

True Dare Kiss

True Dare Kiss is a British television drama produced for BBC One. It is written by Debbie Horsfield and produced by Marcus Wilson and features Dervla Kirwan, David Bradley and Lorraine Ashbourne...

are examples of her work for BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

.

Horsfield has twice won BAFTA Best Drama Series award nominations

British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series

The British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards , the primary awards ceremony of the British television industry...

, for The Riff Raff Element in 1994 and for Cutting It in 2003.

All The Small Things

All the Small Things (TV series)

All the Small Things is a British television programme, produced by the BBC and created and developed by Debbie Horsfield. Following the lives and ambitions of a church choir and its members, the programme began airing on 31 March 2009 and ran for six episodes. The programme frequently features...

(2009), broadcast by BBC One, follows the trials and tribulations of a northern church choir.

External links