Janice Hally
Encyclopedia
Janice Hally is a Scottish
playwright
and television
screenwriter
who has written more than 300 broadcast hours of prime-time British television drama serials and individual screenplay
s. She was co-creator and main screenwriter on the first-ever, long-running Gaelic drama serial Machair
.
and educated at Hillhead High School
and Glasgow University where she studied Drama and English Literature. In 1980, the year that she graduated, she won the World Student Drama Trust ISPC award, judged by Alan Ayckbourn
for her play Ready or Not. Ready or Not was subsequently performed professionally at the Tron Theatre
in Glasgow.
The play was then adapted for television and led to her nomination, at the age of 23 in the category of Best New Writer to Television at the 1982 PYE television awards.
From then on she wrote single plays, children's drama and serial drama for television, garnering more than 650 credits as creator, screenwriter, script editor
, storyliner.
During the 1980s Hally wrote scripts for the Scottish television series Take The High Road
, before becoming associate script editor, then storyliner for the show, where she worked as part of an editorial team with Peter May
and Tom Wright. During this period Take The High Road
achieved its highest audience figures, topping the ratings in Scotland and being broadcast across Britain. May and Hally quit the show in 1989 and were married in 1990.
The couple co-created the Gaelic television drama serial Machair
in the early 1990s and spent most of that decade on location in the Outer Hebrides making 99 episodes of the Gaelic television drama serial.
Early in the new millennium, they set up home in France where May writes thrillers and Hally has written fiction and non-fiction books.
. The scripts were written in English before being translated into Gaelic. The show was anticipated with derision by a sceptical press, but after the first episode was broadcast during peak viewing time, Kenneth Roy, television critic of Scotland on Sunday
, described it as "A credit to the company (Scottish Television) and a smack in the face to those of us who were doubtful" and after a few episodes he revised his opinion, saying "It is even better than it looked at first glance quite simply the best thing to have happened to television in Scotland for a long time."
Viewers agreed, and the show managed to get a 30% audience share, making it into the Top Ten of programmes viewed in Scotland. With fewer than 2% of the Scottish population able to speak Gaelic, the vast majority of viewers were dependent on the shows subtitles. It was nominated for awards for production and writing from The Celtic Film Festival and Writers Guild of Great Britain
Co-Creator, storylined and script edited the first 99 episodes, and wrote the scripts for more than 50 episodes.
Screenwriter and Story Editor
Wrote more than 50 episodes, Associate Script Editor on 208 episodes, storyliner of 240 episodes
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
who has written more than 300 broadcast hours of prime-time British television drama serials and individual screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
s. She was co-creator and main screenwriter on the first-ever, long-running Gaelic drama serial Machair
Machair (TV series)
Machair was a Scottish Gaelic television soap opera produced by Scottish Television Enterprises between August 1992 and September 1998.The series was created and developed by Peter May and Janice Hally who was also the storyliner and principal scriptwriter...
.
Biographical details
Hally was born in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and educated at Hillhead High School
Hillhead High School
Hillhead High School is a day school located in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oakfield Avenue, neighbouring the University of Glasgow. It is one of the largest schools in Glasgow.Until 1976 it was a selective school...
and Glasgow University where she studied Drama and English Literature. In 1980, the year that she graduated, she won the World Student Drama Trust ISPC award, judged by Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
for her play Ready or Not. Ready or Not was subsequently performed professionally at the Tron Theatre
Tron Theatre
The Tron Theatre is located at the corner of Trongate and Chisholm Street, in the Merchant City area of Glasgow, Scotland.From its early years as a theatre club, the Tron has grown into a thriving multi-faceted venue...
in Glasgow.
The play was then adapted for television and led to her nomination, at the age of 23 in the category of Best New Writer to Television at the 1982 PYE television awards.
From then on she wrote single plays, children's drama and serial drama for television, garnering more than 650 credits as creator, screenwriter, script editor
Script editor
A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas with writers, ensuring that scripts are suitable for production...
, storyliner.
During the 1980s Hally wrote scripts for the Scottish television series Take The High Road
Take the High Road
Take the High Road was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, and set in the fictional village of Glendarroch , and claims to have about 2 million fans, including the Queen Mother...
, before becoming associate script editor, then storyliner for the show, where she worked as part of an editorial team with Peter May
Peter May (writer)
Peter May is a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist and crime writer.- Early life :Peter was born in Glasgow. From an early age he was intent on becoming a novelist, but took up a career as a journalist as a way to start earning a living by writing. At the age of 21, he won the Fraser...
and Tom Wright. During this period Take The High Road
Take the High Road
Take the High Road was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, and set in the fictional village of Glendarroch , and claims to have about 2 million fans, including the Queen Mother...
achieved its highest audience figures, topping the ratings in Scotland and being broadcast across Britain. May and Hally quit the show in 1989 and were married in 1990.
The couple co-created the Gaelic television drama serial Machair
Machair (TV series)
Machair was a Scottish Gaelic television soap opera produced by Scottish Television Enterprises between August 1992 and September 1998.The series was created and developed by Peter May and Janice Hally who was also the storyliner and principal scriptwriter...
in the early 1990s and spent most of that decade on location in the Outer Hebrides making 99 episodes of the Gaelic television drama serial.
Early in the new millennium, they set up home in France where May writes thrillers and Hally has written fiction and non-fiction books.
Machair
May and Hally took two years researching not only stories, but locations, production staff and actors before presenting their proposal for the first ever long-running Gaelic drama serial to Scottish Television. May went on to produce the show, leading a cast and crew to the remote Outer Hebrides to shoot the series on location while Hally wrote the stories and the episode outlines of 99 episodes. Hally shared the writing of scripts with fellow Scottish playwright and script writer, Ann Marie Di MambroAnn Marie Di Mambro
Ann Marie Di Mambro is a Scottish playwright and television screenwriter of Italian extraction. Her theatre plays have been performed widely; they are also published individually and in collections and are studied in schools for the Scottish curriculum's Higher Drama and English.- Biographical...
. The scripts were written in English before being translated into Gaelic. The show was anticipated with derision by a sceptical press, but after the first episode was broadcast during peak viewing time, Kenneth Roy, television critic of Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
, described it as "A credit to the company (Scottish Television) and a smack in the face to those of us who were doubtful" and after a few episodes he revised his opinion, saying "It is even better than it looked at first glance quite simply the best thing to have happened to television in Scotland for a long time."
Viewers agreed, and the show managed to get a 30% audience share, making it into the Top Ten of programmes viewed in Scotland. With fewer than 2% of the Scottish population able to speak Gaelic, the vast majority of viewers were dependent on the shows subtitles. It was nominated for awards for production and writing from The Celtic Film Festival and Writers Guild of Great Britain
Writing
- The Killing Room (Les Disparues) feature film screenplay with Peter MayPeter May (writer)Peter May is a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist and crime writer.- Early life :Peter was born in Glasgow. From an early age he was intent on becoming a novelist, but took up a career as a journalist as a way to start earning a living by writing. At the age of 21, he won the Fraser...
, scheduled for production January 2012 with The French Connection (French film production company) - Distant Echo (2010) novella, Editions Didier Hachette (publishers, Paris, France)
- The Firemaker (2008) feature film screenplay treatment, KUIV (French film production company).
- Modelling and Acting for Kids (2004) non-fiction book, A&C Black (publishers, London, UK)
- Looking for the Zee (2002) novel, Miramont Media (publishers, California USA)
- MachairMachair (TV series)Machair was a Scottish Gaelic television soap opera produced by Scottish Television Enterprises between August 1992 and September 1998.The series was created and developed by Peter May and Janice Hally who was also the storyliner and principal scriptwriter...
(1990–1996) drama serial, Scottish Television
Co-Creator, storylined and script edited the first 99 episodes, and wrote the scripts for more than 50 episodes.
- Take The High RoadTake the High RoadTake the High Road was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, and set in the fictional village of Glendarroch , and claims to have about 2 million fans, including the Queen Mother...
(1983–1989) drama serial, Scottish Television
Screenwriter and Story Editor
Wrote more than 50 episodes, Associate Script Editor on 208 episodes, storyliner of 240 episodes
- Private Eye (1985) individual screenplay, ITV (DramaramaDramarama (TV series)Dramarama is the name of a British children's' anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. It tended to feature drama of a science fiction or supernatural bent. The programme was administered by Tyne Tees Television in Newcastle, who had a track-record for organising cross-franchise...
) - My Mum's A Courgette (1984) individual screenplay, ITV (DramaramaDramarama (TV series)Dramarama is the name of a British children's' anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. It tended to feature drama of a science fiction or supernatural bent. The programme was administered by Tyne Tees Television in Newcastle, who had a track-record for organising cross-franchise...
) - D'You Get Paid For Doing This? (1983) individual screenplay, Scottish Television
- Ladies First (1983) individual screenplay, Scottish Television & Channel Four
- Ready Or Not (1982) individual screenplay, Scottish Television
- Ready Or Not (1982) Theatre Play, Tron TheatreTron TheatreThe Tron Theatre is located at the corner of Trongate and Chisholm Street, in the Merchant City area of Glasgow, Scotland.From its early years as a theatre club, the Tron has grown into a thriving multi-faceted venue...
, Glasgow