Amanda Coe

Last updated

Amanda Coe
Born1965
Yorkshire, England
OccupationScreenwriter, author
Alma mater University of Oxford

Amanda Coe (born 1965) is an English screenwriter and novelist.

Contents

Early life

Coe was born in Yorkshire in 1965. [1] She gained an MA in English from the University of Oxford. [2]

Career

Coe's scriptwriting began in the 1990s, working on Dangerfield, The Vet, the Channel 4 series As If, and episodes of Shameless . Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story (2008) was Coe's version of the battle between the 'Clean Up' TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse and Hugh Greene, then Director General of the BBC. Coe was also due to write an episode of Doctor Who for Russel T. Davies, but it fell through. [3] In 2009, she wrote the BBC 4 feature Margot. She subsequently won a BAFTA in 2013 for the BBC Four television adaptation of John Braine's Room at the Top .

Coe wrote BBC's 2015 three-part series on the Bloomsbury Set, Life in Squares , a biopic about the influential group of artists including Virginia Woolf. [4] The series received positive reviews for risk-taking approach to a period drama. [5] In 2017, she adapted Apple Tree Yard for BBC One, from the 2013 thriller novel of the same name by Louise Doughty. [6]

In 2019, Coe wrote The Trial of Christine Keeler , based on the Profumo affair in the 1960s. [7] Coe explained her attraction to the material, saying, "I’m excited to have the opportunity to bring a fresh lens to a story that has become a powerful fable of our national identity. The astonishing story of Christine Keeler and the so-called Profumo affair is the Salem Witch Trial meets O.J. Simpson – a perfect storm of gender, class, race and power that resonates into the world we’re living in today." [8] In 2020, she wrote a new television adaptation of Black Narcissus , based on the 1939 novel of the same name by Rumer Godden. The series featured one of the final performances of Diana Rigg, who died in September 2020. [9] [10]

Coe has published two novels, the latest, Getting Colder, was published in November 2014 by Hachett UK. [11] Her first novel, What They Do in the Dark, was published in 2011 by Virago. Both novels deal with the messy balance of public and private lives, taking deep looks into families as they deal with life-changing events. [12]

Coe says her writing often has comic tones and frequently explores issues of class. Childhood is also a common theme in both her novels and screenwriting. [1] [13]

Personal life

She lives in London with her husband and two children. [2] In addition to her original work as a writer, she serves as a screenwriting associate at the National Film and Television School. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Profumo affair</span> 1960s British political scandal

The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler beginning in 1961. Profumo denied the affair in a statement to the House of Commons, but weeks later a police investigation exposed the truth, proving that he had lied in his statement. The scandal severely damaged the credibility of Macmillan's government, and Macmillan resigned as Prime Minister in October 1963, citing ill health. Ultimately, the fallout contributed to the Conservative government's defeat by the Labour Party in the 1964 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Profumo</span> British politician

John Dennis Profumo was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo affair, led to his resignation from the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Hobson</span> British actress

Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Profumo affair in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christine Keeler</span> English model and showgirl (1942–2017)

Christine Margaret Keeler was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became sexually involved with a married Cabinet minister, John Profumo, as well as with a Soviet naval attaché, Yevgeny Ivanov. A shooting incident involving a third lover caused the press to investigate her, revealing that her affairs could be threatening national security. In the House of Commons, Profumo denied any improper conduct but later admitted that he had lied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandy Rice-Davies</span> Welsh model (1944–2014)

MarilynRice-Davies was a Welsh model and showgirl best known for her association with Christine Keeler and her role in the Profumo affair, which discredited the Conservative government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Ward</span> English osteopath

Stephen Thomas Ward was an English osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair, a British political scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, and contributed to the defeat of the Conservative government a year later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rumer Godden</span> English author

Margaret Rumer Godden was an English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably Black Narcissus in 1947 and The River in 1951.

<i>Scandal</i> (1989 film) 1989 film by Michael Caton-Jones

Scandal is a 1989 British historical drama film, directed by Michael Caton-Jones. It is a fictionalised account of the Profumo affair that rocked the government of British prime minister Harold Macmillan. It stars Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler and John Hurt as Stephen Ward, personalities at the heart of the affair.

Peter Howitt is a British actor and film director.

Captain Yevgeny Mikhailovich Ivanov, also known as Eugene Ivanov, was a naval attaché at the Soviet Embassy in London during the early 1960s, and was also engaged in espionage. His affair with Christine Keeler resulted in another of her lovers, John Profumo, resigning from the United Kingdom government, in what became known as the Profumo affair.

Benjamin Charles Miles is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the television comedy Coupling, from 2000 to 2004, as Montague Dartie in The Forsyte Saga, from 2002 to 2003, as Peter Townsend in the Netflix drama The Crown (2016–2017) and George in episode 8 "The One That Holds Everything" in the TV drama The Romanoffs (2018).

Pillow talk is the relaxed, intimate conversation that often occurs between two sexual partners, sometimes after sexual activity, usually accompanied by cuddling, caresses, kissing, and other physical intimacy. It is associated with honesty, sexual afterglow, and bonding, and is distinguished from dirty talk which usually forms part of foreplay.

Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story is a 2008 British BBC Television drama written by Amanda Coe. Set in the 1960s, it recounts the initial campaigning activities of the British morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse. Julie Walters plays the part of Whitehouse, Alun Armstrong her husband Ernest, and Hugh Bonneville plays Sir Hugh Greene, the Director-General of the BBC, who is taken as embodying the liberalizing forces of the "permissive society" against which Whitehouse campaigned.

Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon was a British-based Jamaican jazz singer who came to public attention during the Profumo affair. He arrived in Scotland from Jamaica in 1948, and moved to London after a few days.

John Arthur Alexander Edgecombe was a British jazz promoter, whose involvement with Christine Keeler inadvertently alerted authorities to the Profumo affair.

Life in Squares is a British television mini-series that was broadcast on BBC Two from 27 July to 10 August 2015. The title comes from Dorothy Parker's witticism that the Bloomsbury Group, whose lives it portrays, had "lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Spencer (actress)</span> British actress, dancer, and singer (born 1991)

Charlotte Spencer is an English actress, dancer and singer. She is known for playing the female lead in The Living and the Dead. Screen International magazine named her a Star of Tomorrow 2015.

<i>The Trial of Christine Keeler</i> 2019 BBC TV historical drama series

The Trial of Christine Keeler is a British television series based on the chain of events surrounding the Profumo affair in the 1960s. The six-part series premiered on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 29 December 2019. The series was adapted by screenwriter Amanda Coe and stars Sophie Cookson, James Norton, Ellie Bamber, Ben Miles, Visar Vishka, Emilia Fox, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Anthony Welsh.

Black Narcissus is a British drama serial, based on the 1939 novel of the same name by Rumer Godden. The series features one of the final performances of Diana Rigg, who died in September 2020. The drama premiered on November 23, 2020, on FX in the US, and on December 27, 2020, on BBC One in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wimpole Mews</span> Street in Marylebone, London W1, England

Wimpole Mews is a mews street in Marylebone, London W1, England. It is known for being a key location in the Profumo affair in the early 1960s.

References

  1. 1 2 Anita Sethi, Amanda Coe: ‘The older I get, the more confident I am about exploring class in my writing’, The Guardian, 23 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Amanda Coe Biography, United Agents
  3. ↑ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/amanda-coe-doctor-who-to-darkest-doncaster-p6jpvkljjqk
  4. ↑ Antonia Molloy, New BBC drama Life in Squares to track lives of Bloomsbury Set, The Independent, 18 August 2014.
  5. ↑ Holly Williams, Life in Squares: The BBC’s new drama about the Bloomsbury group may be risqué - but does it go far enough?, The Independent, 25 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "Apple Tree Yard - BBC One".
  7. ↑ White, Peter (3 May 2018). "Keshet International Backs BBC One Drama 'The Trial Of Christine Keeler'". Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  8. ↑ "BBC - The Trial Of Christine Keeler - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 January 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  9. ↑ "BBC - Gemma Arterton takes the lead role in new BBC and FXP drama Black Narcissus - Media Centre". BBC News . 16 September 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  10. ↑ "Where is Black Narcissus filmed?, 27 December 2020". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  11. ↑ India Ross, ‘Getting Colder’, by Amanda Coe, Financial Times, 14 November 2014.
  12. ↑ Lucy Scholes, Getting Colder, Amanda Coe, review: The fake story spun and the real story unfolding, The Independent, 2 November 2014.
  13. ↑ Carrie O'Grady, What They Do in the Dark by Amanda Coe – review, The Guardian, 29 July 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.