Episodes Broadcast: 2008

John Charles Wilsher initially pursued an academic career; he earned his doctorate in history from Lancaster University, and he took up a post there in 1972. In 1977, however, he decided that his passion lay in creative writing. For the next decade, Wilsher worked primarily in radio, although he also provided scripts for two episodes of ITV Playhouse in 1979 and 1981. His big television break came in 1989, when he began writing for The Bill, for which he would ultimately be responsible for more than fifty episodes. Wilsher's success led to the opportunity to create his own police drama, Between The Lines, and later Call Red. Other work during the Nineties included Silent Witness and The Vice.

After the turn of the century, Wilsher served as the President of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, around which time his credits included Murder In Mind, Dalziel And Pascoe and New Tricks. He also contributed Reset, a pivotal 2008 episode of Torchwood, which brought Doctor Who companion Martha Jones onto the spin-off series and transformed the role of regular character Owen Harper. Wilsher wound down his screenwriting career in the 2010s with installments of Midsomer Murders and Death In Paradise. In 2022, he published a memoir entitled Paper Work: On being a writer in broadcast drama.