Matthew Graham

Born: 1968
Episodes Broadcast: 2006, 2011

Biography

Inspired to pursue a career in scriptwriting by films like 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and television programmes such as 1986's The Singing Detective, Matthew Graham's first professional opportunities came on children's television in the early Nineties. A stint on Motormouth led to work on shows including Byker Grove and The Biz!. Graham soon started to make inroads into adult-oriented television as well, joining the writing staff of the soap opera EastEnders in 1992. Amongst his other credits during the Nineties were This Life and City Central; Graham concluded the decade by creating the post-apocalyptic serial The Last Train.

Over the next few years, Graham continued to divide his time between freelance work and his own projects. The former included episodes of Spooks and Hustle, while POW was one of the latter, co-created with future Doctor Who writer Matt Jones. Having been a fan of Doctor Who during the Seventies and the Eighties, Graham had a discussion with the BBC about a potential revival of the programme around 2002. When that task was ultimately assigned to Russell T Davies, Graham was instead invited to contribute to Doctor Who's 2006 season. After an abortive first idea for Tenth Doctor David Tennant, Graham instead drew upon his experience writing for younger audiences to develop Fear Her. At the same time, he earned his first producing credit on the time-bending detective drama Life On Mars, co-created with Ashley Pharoah and Tony Jordan. It became a popular success, spawning both a sequel series, Ashes To Ashes, and a short-lived American remake.

Graham formed Monastic Productions with Pharoah, but struggled to replicate the success of Life On Mars as both Bonekickers and Eternal Law enjoyed only brief runs. Having discussed several potential storylines over the years, he finally returned to Doctor Who in 2011 with The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People for Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor. Amongst Graham's subsequent work was a pair of book adaptations for American cable channels: Arthur C Clarke's Childhood's End for Syfy, and The Spanish Princess for Starz, which was based on the novels of Philippa Gregory. Graham has a daughter, Daisy, and a son, Sam.

Credits
Writer
Fear Her
The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People

Updated 12th May 2022