Jed Mercurio

Last updated

Jed Mercurio
OBE
NMD 2019 Bodyguard 3 (40850170273) (cropped).jpg
Mercurio in 2019
Born
Gerald Gary Mercurio [1] [2] [3] [4]

September 1966 (age 58)
Education University of Birmingham Medical School
Occupation(s)Television writer, producer, director and novelist
Known for Bodies (2004–2006)
Line of Duty (2012–2021)
Bodyguard (2018)
PartnerElaine Cameron
Children2

Gerald Gary Mercurio OBE (born September 1966) is a British television writer, producer, director and novelist. A former hospital doctor [5] and Royal Air Force officer, [6] Mercurio has been ranked among UK television's leading writers. [7] [8] In 2017, Mercurio was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Television Society [9] and the Baird Medal by RTS Midlands. [10]

Contents

Mercurio's works for television include the series Line of Duty , Bodyguard , Bodies (based on his 2002 novel), The Grimleys , and Cardiac Arrest . His books are Bodies (2002), Ascent (2007), American Adulterer (2009) and, for children, The Penguin Expedition (2003). [11]

Early life

Mercurio was born in Nelson, Lancashire, but grew up in Cannock, Staffordshire. His parents were Italian immigrants, with his father working as a coal miner. [12] He studied at the University of Birmingham Medical School. [5] During his third year, in August 1988, he was commissioned as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force Medical Branch. [6] He received flying training with the University Air Squadron, [5] with the intention of specialising in aviation medicine. [13] [14] He was promoted to flying officer in June 1991, [15] but resigned his commission in February 1992. [16]

During practice as a hospital physician, Mercurio answered an advertisement in the British Medical Journal and, despite little writing experience, [5] scripted the BBC medical drama Cardiac Arrest under the pseudonym John MacUre. [17] Subsequently he retired from medicine to pursue a writing career under his own name.

Career

1990s

Mercurio's writing debut, Cardiac Arrest (1994–96), caused controversy due to its realistic depiction of hospital life. [18] [19] The series was twice nominated in the Best Original Drama category by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain [20] and topped a poll of UK medical professionals as the most realistic medical drama of all time. [21] Mercurio served as medical adviser on the second series of Cardiac Arrest , which he cites as his apprenticeship in producing/directing. [13]

Mercurio wrote and produced the science fiction drama series Invasion: Earth which ran for six episodes on BBC1 in 1998. [22] [23]

Jed Mercurio entered a new genre when he created The Grimleys , a comedy series set in the Black Country, which ran for three series (1999–2001) on ITV. [24]

2000s

Mercurio adapted his first novel, Bodies (2002), [25] into an award-winning television series. [26] Mercurio assumed the producer/showrunner position for the first time on Bodies (2004–06), a role he has fulfilled on all his subsequent original series. [13] The Times ranked Bodies in "Shows of the Decade" and The Guardian placed it in "The Greatest TV Dramas of All Time." [27] The series won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series, was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series and Mercurio was also twice nominated as Best Drama Writer by the Royal Television Society. [28]

His critically acclaimed second novel, Ascent (2007), [29] was ranked among the 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. [30]

2010s

Mercurio's next original drama series, Line of Duty (first broadcast 26 June 2012), premiered as BBC2's then best-performing drama series in 10 years with 4.1 million viewers. [31] A well-received second series (first broadcast 12 February 2014) resulted in the BBC commissioning two further series for production in 2015 and 2016. [32] The first series was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series and earned Mercurio his third nomination as Best Drama Writer by the Royal Television Society and The Writers' Guild of Great Britain. [33] In 2014, Line of Duty was named in the Top 50 BBC2 Shows of All-Time, [34] and named best television drama of the year by The Observer , [35] and in 2016 ranked among the best BBC shows of all time [36] and among the best police series of all time. [37] In 2015, the second series won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series. [38] and was nominated for four BAFTA Awards. [39] [40] Series 3 of Line of Duty became the most watched drama series broadcast on BBC2 in the multichannel era. [41] Series 4 transferred to BBC One, consisting of six episodes broadcast from 26 March 2017. [42]

Mercurio's third medical drama series, Critical , ran for 13 episodes on Sky1 from 24 February 2015 to predominantly positive reviews, [43] [44] [45] [46] but was cancelled on 15 July 2015 after one season. [47]

Mercurio created and wrote Bodyguard , serving as showrunner on the six-part series starring Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes. [48] The series began broadcasting on BBC One on 26 August 2018, [49] achieving the highest viewing figures for a new BBC drama in the multichannel era. [50]

2020s

In 2021 Mercurio and Jimmy Mulville, via HTM Television, inked a first-look deal with 20th Television in an effort to expand into the US. [51]

In 2023, HTM created the six-part drama Payback, starring Morven Christie opposite Peter Mullan, which aired on ITV and internationally. [52] The series is written by Debbie O'Malley, and Mercurio and Mulville are credited as executive producers, along with several others. [53]

Honours

Mercurio was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to television drama. [54]

Personal life

Mercurio's long-time partner is Elaine Cameron, a producer and script editor, and they have two children; Jack and Molly Mercurio. [55]

Filmography

Bibliography

Awards and nominations

YearAssociationCategoryResultWork(s)
1994 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards Best Original Drama SerialNominated Cardiac Arrest
1996Best Original Drama SeriesNominated
2003Sheffield Children's Book AwardsShorter NovelNominatedThe Penguin Expedition
2004 Royal Television Society Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated Bodies
Royal Television Society Awards Best Drama WriterNominated
BAFTA Television Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated
2005 Royal Television Society Awards Best Drama SeriesWon
Royal Television Society Awards Best Drama WriterNominated
BAFTA Television Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated
2012 Crime Thriller Awards The TV DaggerNominated Line of Duty
Royal Television Society Midlands AwardsBest Drama/Fictional ProgrammeWon
2013 Broadcast AwardsBest Drama Series or SerialNominated
Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best TV DramaNominated
South Bank Sky Arts Awards TV DramaNominated
Royal Television Society Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated
Royal Television Society Awards Best Drama WriterNominated
2014 Freesat AwardsBest TV DramaWon
Crime Thriller Awards The TV DaggerNominated
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards TV Drama – Long FormNominated
2015 Broadcast AwardsBest Drama Series or SerialNominated
Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated
Best Drama WriterNominated
2015 Royal Television Society Awards Best Drama SeriesWon
BAFTA Television Craft Awards Writer: DramaNominated
BAFTA Television Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated
2015 South Bank Sky Arts Awards TV DramaNominated
Royal Television Society Northern Ireland AwardsBest DramaWon
2016 TV Choice Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated
Royal Television Society Northern Ireland AwardsBest DramaNominated
2017 Broadcast AwardsBest Drama Series or SerialNominated
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsBest TV Drama SeriesNominated
Royal Television Society Awards Drama SeriesNominated
Royal Television Society Awards Drama – WriterNominated
Celtic Media Festival AwardsBest Drama SeriesWon
TV Choice Awards Best DramaNominated
British Screenwriters' Awards Best Crime Writing on TelevisionWon
Royal Television Society Northern Ireland AwardsBest DramaWon
2018 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards TV Drama – Long FormNominated
National Television Awards Crime DramaNominated
Irish Film and Television Academy Awards DramaNominated
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsBest Drama SeriesWon
Writer's AwardWon
Voice of the Listener & Viewer Awards for Excellence in BroadcastingBest TV Drama ProgrammeWon
BAFTA Television Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated
Televisual Bulldog AwardsBest Drama SeriesWon
South Bank Sky Arts Awards TV DramaNominated
Edinburgh TV Awards Best UK DramaNominated
2019 Golden Globe Awards Best Television Series – DramaNominated Bodyguard
BAFTA Television Awards Best Drama SeriesNominated
Gold Derby AwardsBest Drama SeriesNominated
Best Drama Episode of the YearNominated
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Drama SeriesNominated
Outstanding Writing for a Drama SeriesNominated
2020 Edgar Allan Poe Award [56] Best Television Episode TeleplayWonLine of Duty

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hat Trick Productions</span> British independent TV production company

Hat Trick Productions Limited is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. The company's logo is depicted as a rabbit pulling a man out of a hat instead of the other way around.

A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over the production, and the executive producer's role is limited to investing. In scripted comedy and drama TV shows, the showrunner also usually serves as the head writer. The role of a showrunner is not present on all television series, especially outside the US; this article describes the nature of the role where it is present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lennie James</span> British actor (born 1965)

Lennie Michael James is a British actor. He is best known for portraying Morgan Jones in the AMC series The Walking Dead and in its spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead, and starring as DCI Tony Gates in Line of Duty series one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keeley Hawes</span> English actress (born 1976)

Clare Julia "Keeley" Hawes is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including Our Mutual Friend (1998) and Tipping the Velvet (2002), Hawes rose to fame for her portrayal of Zoe Reynolds in the BBC series Spooks (2002–2004), followed by her co-lead performance as DI Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes (2008–2010). She is also known for her roles in Jed Mercurio's Line of Duty as DI Lindsay Denton (2014–2016) and in BBC One drama Bodyguard (2018), in which she played Home Secretary Julia Montague.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Productions</span> Film production company

World Productions Limited is a British television production company, founded on 20 March 1990 by acclaimed producer Tony Garnett, and owned by ITV plc following a takeover in 2017.

<i>Line of Duty</i> British police procedural drama television series (2012–2021)

Line of Duty is a British police procedural and serial drama created by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It first began broadcasting on BBC Two on 26 June 2012. The programme performed well and was quickly commissioned for additional series that aired in 2014 and 2016. After becoming the highest-rated series on BBC Two in 10 years, Line of Duty was promoted to BBC One beginning with the fourth series in 2017 and fifth in 2019, securing commissions through a sixth series, which concluded on 2 May 2021, after the programme had aired a total of 36 episodes.

Critical, styled with a time-clock format as CR:IT:IC:AL, is a British medical drama series that aired on Sky 1 from 24 February to 19 May 2015. The series is set in a fictional major trauma centre (MTC), City General Hospital, which treats critically ill patients. Each episode is based on one patient and efforts to save his or her life within one hour. Created by Jed Mercurio, the drama follows the team of medical professionals whilst they make life-changing decisions. The title refers to critical condition, the most serious medical state, as well as the decisions and actions of the staff; everything done within the first hour is absolutely vital and could determine whether a patient lives or dies. The show was axed on 15 July 2015 after the series pulled in an average of 192,000 viewers.

Derek Wax is a British television executive producer. His work includes The Rig, The Sixth Commandment, Sex Traffic, Occupation, The Hour,Troy: Fall of a City,Capital,Humans, Lip Service, Tsunami: The Aftermath and From There to Here. He was a producer at Granada TV from 2001 to 2005 and an Executive Producer at Kudos from 2005 to 2017.

Jane Elizabeth Featherstone is an English television producer and founder of Sister Pictures, a global TV and film production and development company. Prior to that, she was the chief executive of Kudos and co-chairman of Shine UK, now part of Endemol Shine Group.

<i>Bodyguard</i> (British TV series) 2018 British television drama series

Bodyguard is a British political thriller television series created and written by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions as part of ITV Studios for the BBC. The six-part series centres around the fictional character of Police Sergeant David Budd, a British Army war veteran suffering from PTSD, who is now working for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. He is assigned as the principal protection officer (PPO) for the ambitious Home Secretary Julia Montague, whose politics he despises. The series draws attention to controversial issues such as government monitoring of private information and its regulation, the politics of intervention and terrorism, and PTSD.

<i>Line of Duty</i> series 1 BBC police procedural TV show, 2012 series

The first series of the British police procedural television programme Line of Duty was broadcast on BBC Two between 26 June and 24 July 2012.

<i>Line of Duty</i> series 2 BBC police procedural TV show, 2014 series

The second series of the British police procedural television programme Line of Duty was broadcast on BBC Two between 12 February and 19 March 2014.

<i>Line of Duty</i> series 3 BBC police procedural TV show, 2016 series

The third series of the British police procedural television programme Line of Duty, was broadcast on BBC Two between 24 March and 28 April 2016.

<i>Line of Duty</i> series 4 BBC police procedural TV show, 2017 series

The fourth series of the British police procedural television programme Line of Duty was broadcast on BBC One between 26 March and 30 April 2017. It is the first series to air on the network after the first three were broadcast on BBC Two.

<i>Line of Duty</i> series 6 BBC police procedural TV show, 2021 series

The sixth series of Line of Duty, consisting of seven episodes, began broadcasting on BBC One on 21 March 2021. The story follows the actions of AC-12, led by Superintendent Ted Hastings and DI Steve Arnott, as they investigate DCI Joanne Davidson and her team, including former AC-12 officer DI Kate Fleming.

<i>Bloodlands</i> (TV series) Crime drama series set in Northern Ireland

Bloodlands is a police procedural television series set in Northern Ireland that premiered on BBC One on 21 February 2021. It was created by Chris Brandon and developed by HTM Television, a joint venture between Hat Trick Productions and the producer Jed Mercurio. The show was renewed for a second series on 14 March 2021, with filming commencing in February 2022.

Stephen, also titled Conviction: The Case of Stephen Lawrence, is a 2021 British three-part limited crime drama TV series. It is the sequel to the 1999 TV film The Murder of Stephen Lawrence. It stars Steve Coogan, Sharlene Whyte and Hugh Quarshie. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Joe Cottrell Boyce and directed by Alrick Riley. The series was produced for ITV by HTM Television, a joint venture between Hat Trick Productions and the producer Jed Mercurio.

Breathtaking is a British medical drama television series, written by Rachel Clarke, Jed Mercurio, and Prasanna Puwanarajah, based on Clarke's 2021 memoir of the same name on the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It stars Joanne Froggatt and was directed by Craig Viveiros.

References

  1. Dowell, Ben (14 May 1998). "Jed Day" . The Stage . p. 35. Retrieved 12 May 2019. ...the fact that his very cool first name, Jed, is in fact short for Gerald...
  2. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007
  3. "HTM Television Limited – Filing history (free information from Companies House)". companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  4. "HTM Television". HTM Television. Retrieved 12 May 2019. Hat Trick Mercurio Television Ltd (HTM Television) is a UK production company co-owned by Jed Mercurio and Hat Trick Productions.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Albiston, Isabel (24 February 2007). "The world of ..." The Telegraph.
  6. 1 2 "No. 51518". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 November 1988. p. 12221.
  7. "Broadcast Hot 100 2013". broadcastnow.co.uk. 5 December 2013.
  8. Lazarus, Susannah (18 September 2017). "Radio Times TV 100". Radio Times.
  9. Harding, Laura (13 September 2017). "Russell T. Davies among RTS fellowship recipients". Irish Independent.
  10. "Royal Television Society Midlands Awards 2017 – Winners Announced". Film Birmingham. 1 December 2017. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  11. Jed Mercurio Author Profile at Rogers, Coleridge & White Literary Agency website, Rcwlitagency.com, archived from the original on 2 October 2013, retrieved 6 October 2013
  12. Laws, Roz (24 March 2017). "Who is the man behind gripping TV drama Line of Duty?". Birmingham Mail.
  13. 1 2 3 Brown, Maggie (10 February 2014). "Line of Duty's Jed Mercurio". The Guardian.
  14. Llewellyn-Smith, Julia (23 March 2014). "Line of Duty:'Sometimes justice is not done in the real world'". Telegraph.
  15. "No. 52646". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 September 1991. p. 13423.
  16. "No. 52857". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 March 1992. p. 4255.
  17. Curtis, Chris (20 September 2012), Jed Mercurio: taking aim at the target culture, Broadcastnow.co.uk, retrieved 6 October 2013
  18. Dillner, Louise (23 April 1994). "Frightening realism". The British Medical Journal . 308 (6936): 1108. doi:10.1136/bmj.308.6936.1108.
  19. Revill, Jo (10 September 2006). "Nurse! Let's put this medical drama back on the screens". The Guardian .
  20. "Cardiac Arrest at the International Movie Data Base". IMDb .
  21. "Top of the TV Medics". BBC Online. 9 November 1999.
  22. Annette Belcher; James Rodger (18 September 2018). "Meet BBC Bodyguard writer Jed Mercurio - who used to work as a Birmingham doctor". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  23. Helen Fear (25 February 2021). "Jed Mercurio: Line of Duty creator worked as a doctor before TV career". Entertainment Daily. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  24. Rampton, James (6 March 1999). "Still Crazee Now – Arts & Entertainment". The Independent. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  25. Myerson, Julie (6 April 2002). "Close to the Bone". The Guardian.
  26. Royal Television Society Programme Awards 2005, Rts.org.uk, archived from the original on 16 December 2014, retrieved 6 October 2013
  27. Lusher, Tim (12 January 2010). "The Top 50 TV Dramas of All Time". The Guardian.
  28. "Bodies at the International Movie Data Base". IMDb .
  29. Faber, Michel (10 March 2007). "Rocket Man". The Guardian.
  30. "1000 Novels Everyone Must Read". The Guardian. 22 January 2009.
  31. Curtis, Chris (20 September 2012). "Jed Mercurio: taking aim at the target culture". Broadcastnow.co.uk. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  32. Sweeney, Mark (8 April 2014). "Line of Duty set to return for third and fourth series". Guardian.
  33. Sandwell, Ian (5 December 2014). "Writers' Guild shortlist unveiled". Screen International .
  34. Hogan, Michael; et al. (18 April 2014). "The Top 50 BBC Two shows of all-time". The Telegraph.
  35. Ferguson, Euan (7 December 2014). "The best British TV Dramas of 2014". The Observer .
  36. Tate, Gabriel; et al. (2 November 2016). "The 80 Best BBC Shows of All Time". The Telegraph.
  37. Ross, Graeme (12 November 2016). "The 20 Greatest TV Cop Shows of All Time". The Independent.
  38. Klompus, Jack (18 March 2015). "Casualty, Harry & Paul, Line of Duty win at RTS Programme awards". Digital Spy.
  39. "Bafta TV Awards 2015: Winners in full". BBC News. 10 May 2015.
  40. "BAFTA TV Craft Awards 2015".
  41. Plunkett, John (28 April 2016). "Line of Duty outranks Wolf Hall to take BBC2 ratings crown". The Guardian.
  42. "Line of Duty to move to BBC1 for two more series". Radiotimes.com. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  43. Billen, Andrew (25 February 2015). "TV Review: Critical; Immigration Street". The Times.
  44. Jones, Ellen E. (25 February 2015). "Critical, Sky1 – TV Review". The Independent.
  45. Wollaston, Sam (25 February 2015). "Last Night's TV". The Guardian.
  46. Hogan, Michael (25 February 2015). "Critical episode 1 review". The Telegraph.
  47. Jeffrey, Morgan (15 July 2015). "Sky1 calls time on Critical: No second series for medical thriller". Digital Spy . Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  48. "Meet the cast of Bodyguard on BBC1".
  49. Hughes, Sarah (12 August 2018). "Jed Mercurio on Bodyguard, jeopardy … and the next Line of Duty". The Guardian.
  50. Corrodus, Corrine (4 September 2018). "Bodyguard is the biggest drama on British TV in over a decade". The Telegraph.
  51. Goldberg, Lesley (4 November 2021). "Jed Mercurio and Jimmy Mulville Ink 20th TV First-Look Deal". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  52. Crosby, Eve (1 September 2022). "Line of Duty creator teams up with Morven Christie for new thriller - and we can't wait". hellomagazine.com.
  53. "Payback (TV Series 2023– )". IMDb. 23 November 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  54. "No. 63218". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2020. p. N13.
  55. Lawrence, Ben (25 September 2018). "From the RAF to Bodyguard: the dramatic life of Jed Mercurio". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  56. "Edgar Award Nominees". www.theedgars.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2020.