Peter is an acclaimed screenwriter and playwright.

He was writer in residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1979-1980 and remains an Associate Artist there. His plays at the RSC include Singer, which originally starred Sir Antony Sher, and won the Time Out Best Play Award in 1989 and was nominated for Best New Play at the Oliviers. It was revived by the Oxford Stage Company in 2004, starring Ron Cook. Our Friends in the North, starring Jim Broadbent and Roger Allam won the 1982 John Whiting Award and was nominated for the Olivier Award for best play. Savage Amusement, which had won the Best Play Award at the National Student Drama Festival 1978, starred David Threlfall and Lesley Manville. Other theatre includes The Bodies, adapted from Émile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin for Live Theatre, Newcastle, in 2005, starring Jill Halfpenny, and Burnt by the Sun, adapted from the screenplay by Nikita Mikhalkov and Rustam Ibragimbekov, at the National Theatre in 2009, starring Ciaran Hinds and Rory Kinnear and directed by Howard Davies.

Film & Television

THE MEMORY WARS 2023
8 x 60’
Company Television for Sky Atlantic – In development

THE FAR SIDE 2019
90’ Feature. Big Light for BBC – Unproduced.

ACROSS THE RIVER INTO THE TREES 2022
Feature film based on the novel by Ernest Hemmingway
Tribune Pictures
Dir. Paula Ortiz
Starring Liev Schreiber, Matilda De Angelis, Danny Huston, Josh Hutcherson, Laura Morante

INSPECTOR GEORGE GENTLY 2007-2017
25 x 90’ series
Company Television for BBC1
Starring Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby and Lisa McGrillis and featuring Phil Davis, Jill Halfpenny, Mark Williams, Tim McInerney, Sarah Lancashire, Roger Lloyd Pack, James Norton, Helen Baxendale, Alison Steadman, Mark Gatiss, Jim Moir, Warren Clarke, Pixie Lott, Neil Morrissey, Neil Pearson, Kevin Whately, Lesley Nicol and Nicholas Woodeson.

ZONE 22 2009
Based on Tig Hague’s memoir of his time in the Russian gulag.
1 x 90’
Company Television/BBC – Unproduced

THE DEVIL’S WHORE 2008
4 x 60’
Company Television / C4
Dir. Marc Munden
Starring Dominic West, Michael Fassbender, John Simm, Andrea Riseborough, Maxine Peake and Peter Capaldi.
Winner: South Bank Show Award for Best TV Drama 2008
Winner: RTS Best Drama Serial Award
Winner: RTS Best Drama Writer Award
Nomination: BAFTA Best Drama Serial
Nomination: WGGB Award for Best Short-Form Drama 2009
Nomination: Broadcast Award for Best Drama Series

POIROT: THE THIRD GIRL 2009
Mammoth TV for ITV
Starring David Suchet

ROSE AND MALONEY I & II 2004/5
Company Television/ITV1
Starring Phil Davis and Sarah Lancashire.

THE MIGHTY WALTZER 2002/3
Feature, adapted from the novel by Howard Jacobson.
Swag Pictures for Pathé Pictures – Unproduced

JAMES MIRANDA BARRY 2002/3
4 x 60’ adaptation from the novel by Patricia Duncker
Company TV /C4 – Unproduced

THE ONE AND ONLY 2003
Feature film
Assassin Films Ltd/Pathé Pictures
Dir. Simon Cellan Jones
Starring Patsy Kensit and Richard Roxburgh

THE MAPMAKER’S DREAM 2001/2
2 x 90’ original written for John Thaw
Carlton TV – Unproduced

IN SEARCH OF THE ASSASSIN 2000
Feature film
From the memoir by Susie Morgan
Assassin Films Ltd – Unproduced

OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH 1995/6
9-part serial based on the stageplay
BBC 2 1996. Repeated 1997, 2006 and 2022
Starring Gina McKee, Daniel Craig, Mark Strong and Christopher Eccleston and featuring Alun Armstrong, David Bradley, Freda Dowie, Peter Vaughan, Malcolm McDowell, Tracey Wilkinson, Danny Webb, Tony Haygarth, Donald Sumpter, David Schofield, Daniel Casey, Julian Fellowes
Winner: Writer’s Guild Award for Best Original Drama Serial 1996
Winner: Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Writer of the Year 1996
Winner: BAFTA Best Drama Serial 1996
Winner: BAFTA Dennis Potter Award 1996
Winner: RTS Writer of the Year 1996

FUNNY BONES 1995
Written with director Peter Chelsom
Hollywood Pictures feature film
Starring Lee Evans, Jerry Lewis, Leslie Caron and Oliver Reed

SHOOT THE REVOLUTION 1990
Original 1 x 90’ drama
BBC 2
Starring Bernard Hill, Bob Peck and Freddie Jones

BLIND JUSTICE 1988
5 x 90’
BBC 2
Produced by Michael Wearing
Starring Jack Shepherd and Jane Lapotaire
Winner: RTS Award for Best Series 1989
Winner: Samuel Beckett Award 1989
Nominated: BAFTA for Best Drama Series 1989

Radio

OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH 2022
Adapted for BBC Radio 4 in 10 episodes. Directed by Melanie Harris for Sparklab

CASSANDRA AT THE WEDDING 2016
Sparklab for BBC Radio 4, from the novel by Dorothy Baker. Starring Hayley Atwell

NATIONAL VELVET 2010
2 x 60’. Sparklab for BBC Radio 4, directed by Melanie Harris. Starring Sophie Rundle, John Sessions and Alison Steadman

ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTOCYCLE MAINTENANCE 2006
90’ from the novel by Robert Pirsig, directed by Melanie Harris. Starring James Purefoy