Matthew Graham
Born: 1968
Episodes Broadcast: 2006, 2011
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.
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