Lucy Gannon
Encyclopedia
Life
Lucy Gannon once worked as a military policewoman, a residential social worker, as well as a nurse and lived in a concrete council house with no central heating. Now she resides in a converted barn, in Derbyshire, and is one of the most sought-after TV writers aroundShe started in 1987, to enter the Richard Burton Award for New Playwrights. Her offering, Keeping Tom Nice, about a disabled boy whose father commits suicide, earned her the award and a six-month writer-in-residence at 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...
. In 1988 Keeping Tom Nice was staged to acclaim at the Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
in London, and in 1989 shown as a BBC TV Screenplay starring Linus Roache
Linus Roache
Linus William Roache is an English actor.-Early life:Roache was born in Manchester, the son of Coronation Street actor William Roache and actress Anna Cropper. Roache was educated at Bishop Luffa Church of England School in Chichester, West Sussex and at the independent Rydal School in Colwyn Bay,...
.
Gannon has a bulging portfolio of successful single dramas, including Dad, Tender Loving Care, Trip Trap, The Gift, and Big Cat.
Lucy Gannon has criticised the BBC, claiming that delays in commissioning programmes threatens writers and producers. In spite of this, she has written scripts for Eastenders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, particularly the Ronnie Branning Baby Swap storyline.
In 2010, Gannon's new play Broken Hearted will premiere at Derby Theatre (formerly Derby Playhouse).
Plays
- Broken Hearted, 2010
- Tender Loving Care
- Dancing Attendance, 1990
- A Dog Barking, 1988
- Janet And John, 1988
- Raping The Gold, 1988
- Wicked Old Nellie, 1987
Teleplays
- "The Children" (2008) TV mini-series (writer)
- "Wild at Heart" (1 episode, 2007) (writer)
- "Dad" (2005) (TV) (writer)
- "Blue Dove" (2003) TV mini-series (creator) (writer)
- "Servants" (2003) TV series (unknown episodes)
- Plain Jane (2002) (TV) (writer)
- "Hope & Glory" (1 episode, 2000)
- Pure Wickedness (1999) (TV) (writer)
- Big Cat (1998) (TV) (writer)
- The Gift (1998) (TV) (writer)
- "Bramwell" (17 episodes, 1995–1998)
- Trip Trap (1996) (TV) (writer)
- "Peak Practice" (15 episodes, 1993–1994)
- "Screen One" (1 episode, 1993)
- "Soldier Soldier" (11 episodes, 1991–1992
- A Small Dance (1991) (writer)
- Testimony of a Child (1989) (TV) (screenplay)
Reviews
Lucy Gannon has a lot to answer for. Thanks to her, we have had to endure the sight and sound of Robson and Jerome. She is the woman responsible for Soldier, Soldier - the army drama that launched the tuneless twosome to the top of the charts and on to every teenage girl's wall in the land.
Not content with that, Gannon also devised the hugely successful Peak Practice (doctors in beautiful surroundings) and Bramwell (doctors in beautiful costumes). To create one top-rated ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
drama is more than most writers could ever dream of managing; to create three just looks greedy. She has also developed a nice little sideline in single dramas such as Tender Loving Care, in which Dawn French played a murderous nurse. Gannon is now one of a very few writers whose name alone is sufficient to give the green light to any project to which it is attached. So how has she done it? Does she, like the makers of Coca-Cola, possess a secret formula?