Alex Shearer

Last updated
Alex Shearer
Born (1949-06-25) 25 June 1949 (age 75)
Scotland
OccupationWriter
NationalityScottish
CitizenshipUK
Genre Children's picture books Scripts

Alex Shearer (born 25 June 1949) is a British novelist and scriptwriter. He was born in Wick, in the north of Scotland. Alex Shearer sold his first TV script at the age of 29, after a varied career of some 30 odd jobs.

Contents

He wrote for television, film, theatre and radio (including plays and short stories for BBC Radio 4) [1] for 14 years, and then devoted himself to becoming a novelist.

His 2003 novel The Speed of the Dark was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. [2] The Greatest Store in the World was adapted into a television film by the BBC. His novel Bootleg was adapted for a television series by the BBC, and later adapted into manga and anime under its Japanese title Chocolate Underground. [3]

TV work

Radio work

Film work

Stage work

Novels

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penelope Keith</span> British actress (born 1940)

Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms The Good Life and To the Manor Born. She succeeded Lord Olivier as president of the Actors' Benevolent Fund after his death in 1989, and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to the arts and to charity.

Chesney and Wolfe, were a British television comedy screenwriting duo consisting of Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe. They were best known for their sitcoms The Rag Trade, Meet the Wife (1963–1966), On the Buses (1969–1973) and Romany Jones (1972–1975). When their partnership began in the mid-1950s, Chesney was already known to the public as a harmonica player.

Andrew Paul Marshall is a British comedy screenwriter, most noted for the domestic sitcom 2point4 children. He was also the inspiration for Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Although he had also previously adapted stories for Agatha Christie's Poirot, in 2002 he made a further move into writing "straight" drama, with the fantasy horror series Strange. He has also written several screenplays.

<i>The Vicar of Dibley</i> British TV sitcom (1994–2007)

The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom. It consists of three series, which aired on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2000, and several specials, the most recent of which aired on 23 December 2020. It is set in the fictional Oxfordshire village of Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1993 changes in the Church of England that permitted the ordination of women. Dawn French plays the lead role of vicar Geraldine Granger.

David Peter Renwick is an English author, television writer, actor, director and executive producer. He created the sitcom One Foot in the Grave and the mystery series Jonathan Creek. He was awarded the Writers Guild Ronnie Barker Award at the 2008 British Comedy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard O'Sullivan</span> English actor

Richard O'Sullivan is an English comedy actor. He is known for his role as Robin Tripp in the TV sitcoms Man About the House (1973–1976) and Robin's Nest (1977–1981) and as the title character in the period adventure series Dick Turpin (1979–1982). He also starred in Doctor at Large (1971), Doctor in Charge (1972–1973), Alcock and Gander (1972), Me and My Girl (1984–1988) and Trouble In Mind (1991).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bluthal</span> Australian actor (1929–2018)

John Bluthal was a Polish-born Australian actor and comedian, noted for his six-decade career internationally in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Simm</span> English musician and actor (born 1970)

John Ronald Simm is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, the Master in Doctor Who, and DS Roy Grace in Grace. His other television credits include State of Play, The Lakes, Crime and Punishment, Exile, Prey, and Cracker. His film roles include Wonderland, Everyday, Boston Kickout, Human Traffic and 24 Hour Party People. He has twice been nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynda Baron</span> English actress and singer (1939–2022)

Lilian Ridgway, known professionally as Lynda Baron, was an English actress and singer. She is known for having played Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours (1976–1985) and its sequel, Still Open All Hours (2013–2016), Auntie Mabel in the award-winning children's series Come Outside (1993–1997), and the part of Linda Clarke in EastEnders in 2006 and from 2008 to 2009, with a brief return in 2016.

James Edward Fleet is an English actor of theatre, radio and screen. He is most famous for his roles as the bumbling and well-meaning Tom in the 1994 British romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral and the dim-witted but kind-hearted Hugo Horton in the BBC sitcom television series The Vicar of Dibley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annette Badland</span> English actress

Annette Badland is an English actress known for a wide range of roles on television, radio, stage, and film. She is best known for her roles as Charlotte in the BBC crime drama series Bergerac, Margaret Blaine in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, Mrs Glenna Fitzgibbons in the first season of Outlander, Babe Smith in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, and as Dr Fleur Perkins on the ITV mystery series Midsomer Murders. She was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1993 for her performance as Sadie in Jim Cartwright's play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice; a role she reprised in the 1998 film adaptation Little Voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Chambers</span> English actress (1964–2018)

Emma Gwynedd Mary Chambers was an English actress. She played Alice Tinker in the BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley and Honey Thacker in the film Notting Hill (1999).

Jonathon Morris is a former British actor and television presenter.

Samantha-Jane Beckinsale, known professionally as Samantha Beckinsale and Sam Beckinsale, is a British actress. She played firefighter Kate Stevens in London's Burning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Barron</span> English actor (1934–2017)

Keith Barron was an English actor and television presenter who appeared in films and on television from 1961 until 2017. His television roles included the police drama The Odd Man, the sitcom Duty Free, and Gregory Wilmot in Upstairs, Downstairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Glenister</span> British actor (born 1963)

Philip Haywood Glenister is an English actor. He is known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in the BBC series Life on Mars (2006–2007) and its sequel Ashes to Ashes (2008–2010). He also played DCI William Bell in State of Play (2003) and Reverend Anderson in Outcast (2016–2018).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miranda Hart</span> English comedian (born 1972)

Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke is an English actress, comedian and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in BBC sitcoms, including Hyperdrive (2006–2007) and Not Going Out (2006–2009).

Bootleg is a 2002 miniseries for children, commissioned by the BBC and based on a book of the same name by Alex Shearer. It was shown as a three-part series in the UK, with subsequent broadcasts in Australia and all over the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanna McCallum</span> English film actress

Joanna McCallum is an English theatre, film and television actress.

Brian Tesler is a retired British television entertainment producer and senior executive. His career encompassed British television's post-war evolution from a single-channel BBC to the arrival of multiple terrestrial, satellite and cable channels in the 1990s. After experience in radio presentation with the British Forces Broadcasting Service in the 1940s he began in television as a light entertainment producer and director for BBC Television in 1952, producing mainly panel shows before gaining experience and working his way upwards to producing larger and more significant programmes. He moved to Britain's fledgling independent commercial television service ITV in 1957, joining Associated Television (ATV), who held the franchise for weekends in London. Here he took over ITV's biggest variety show, Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

References

  1. Gaisford, Sue (1997) "Radio: From Elizabeth I to Elton John ... it's the same story", The Independent , 14 September 1997, retrieved 2011-05-07
  2. "Teen's tale wins children's prize", BBC, 6 October 2003, retrieved 2011-05-07
  3. "News: Alex Shearer's Bootleg Novel Made into Manga, Anime", Anime News Network, retrieved 2011-05-07