Abi Morgan#Plays

Abigail Louise Morgan was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1968.{{Cite web |url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=fstgeGHAIToS5zW5O6ewWw&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=25 February 2020|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS|archive-date=14 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714064403/https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=fstgeGHAIToS5zW5O6ewWw&scan=1|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/writer-abi-morgan-last-laugh-6079338|title=Writer Abi Morgan has last laugh at the Emmys|work=Wales Online|date=23 September 2013|access-date=23 September 2013|archive-date=25 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925085135/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/writer-abi-morgan-last-laugh-6079338|url-status=live}} She is the daughter of actress Pat England and theatre director Gareth Morgan, who was director of the Gulbenkian Theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne (now the Northern Stage). Her parents divorced when she was a teenager. As a child, she frequently moved around the country with her mother because of the latter's career in repertory theatre. She attended seven separate schools during her childhood.Aidan Smith, [http://living.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Abi-Morgan-screenwriter.6267530.jp Interview: Abi Morgan, screenwriter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507100341/http://living.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Abi-Morgan-screenwriter.6267530.jp |date=7 May 2010 }}, The Scotsman, 4 May 2010.

After initial ambitions to become an actress, Morgan decided to become a writer when she was reading drama and literature at Exeter University.Nigel Farndale, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8623286/Abi-Morgan-interview.html Abi Morgan interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327025010/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8623286/Abi-Morgan-interview.html |date=27 March 2018 }}, Daily Telegraph, 12 July 2011. She took a postgraduate writing course at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Having not dared to show any of her writing "to anyone for five years", she gained her first professional stage credit in 1998 with Skinned, produced at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton. She has written plays for the Royal Exchange Studio Theatre Manchester, the Royal Lyceum Theatre, the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, the National Theatre of Scotland, and the Royal Court, London.[http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/morgan-abi.html List of theatrical works] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820165520/http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/morgan-abi.html |date=20 August 2010 }}, Doollee.com

Her 2001 play Tender, commissioned by Birmingham Rep Theatre and co-produced with the Hampstead Theatre, gained her a nomination as "most promising playwright" at the 2002 Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Morgan gained her first television writing credit in 1998 on the continuing ITV drama series Peak Practice, following that with a television play My Fragile Heart (2000) and a BBC2 drama Murder in 2002, starring Julie Walters.

She was commissioned to write the single drama Sex Traffic for Channel 4 in 2004, about a teenage girl trafficked from the Balkans to Britain. This drama, directed by David Yates, won the 2005 BAFTA award for Best Drama Serial. She has since written a number of single dramas for television including Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006), White Girl, part of White (2008) and Royal Wedding (2010), which follows the 1981 Royal Wedding through the perspective of events held in a small Welsh mining village. Her television work also includes writing Birdsong, a two-part television adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's novel of the same title.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Morgan's first continuing drama series was The Hour (2011), set in a BBC newsroom during the 1956 Suez Crisis. It was commissioned for a second series, but cancelled after the second series was transmitted. The second series had lower ratings, although it was praised by critics. In 2013, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special for The Hour; she had been nominated for that same award in 2012, after the first series.{{Cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominations/award-search?search_api_views_fulltext=Abi+Morgan&submit=Search&field_celebrity_details_field_display_name=&field_show_details_field_nominee_show_nr_title=&field_nominations_year_op=%3E%3D&field_nominations_year%5Bvalue%5D=1949-01-01&field_nominations_year_1_op=%3C%3D&field_nominations_year_1%5Bvalue%5D=2022-01-01 |title=Awards Search |website=Television Academy|access-date=14 July 2022 }}

Morgan wrote the legal drama The Split, about the private and professional lives of divorce lawyers, first shown on BBC1 in April 2018.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

She wrote the script for the 2024 Netflix miniseries Eric, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.{{Cite web|website=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/benedict-cumberbatch-netflix-limited-series-childrens-show-puppeteer-1235477913|date=4 January 2023|title=Benedict Cumberbatch in Talks to Star in Netflix Limited Series 'Eric' From Abi Morgan, Sister (Exclusive)|first=Joe|last=Otterson}}

Morgan has also written for cinema. Her 2007 adaptation of Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane was critically acclaimed, but created controversy – some Brick Lane Bengalis labelled the film "defamatory" and a planned royal film performance was cancelled. Her next film was The Iron Lady, which starred Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher, closely followed by a smaller-budget production, Shame, co-written with Steve McQueen.

Her work on The Iron Lady earned her a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination,{{cite news|title=Bafta Film Awards 2012: Nominations|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16590913|access-date=17 January 2012|date=27 March 2012|work=BBC News|archive-date=18 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118043250/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16590913|url-status=live}} while her work on Shame earned her a BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film nomination. She has said that she always puts one line from her last film in her next film.{{cite web

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Her next film, The Invisible Woman, was an adaptation of the book of the same name by Claire Tomalin, about the secret love affair between Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan, which lasted for thirteen years until his death in 1870. The film was released to critical acclaim in 2013, but its production was reportedly strained after clashes between lead actress Kristin Scott Thomas and Morgan on set, the source of which was never disclosed.{{Cite web|date=2014-02-07|title=What's going on between Abi Morgan and Kristin Scott Thomas? |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/what-s-going-on-between-abi-morgan-and-kristin-scott-thomas-9114984.html|access-date=2021-04-13|website=www.standard.co.uk|language=en|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413175717/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/what-s-going-on-between-abi-morgan-and-kristin-scott-thomas-9114984.html|url-status=live}}

A staunch opponent of Brexit, Morgan was one of nine leading playwrights to contribute to a series of online dramas in 2017 responding to the causes and consequences of the EU referendum result. Entitled Brexit Shorts, Morgan's monologue, The End, starred Penelope Wilton as a woman on the brink as she faces the consequences of the end of her 43-year-old marriage.{{Cite web|date=2017-06-19|title=Leading playwrights create Brexit dramas for The Guardian|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/jun/19/leading-playwrights-create-brexit-shorts-david-hare-abi-morgan|access-date=2021-04-13|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413234554/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/jun/19/leading-playwrights-create-brexit-shorts-david-hare-abi-morgan|url-status=live}}

In May 2022, Morgan released a memoir entitled This Is Not a Pity Memoir, in which she discusses her husband's battle with encephalitis and Capgras delusion.{{Cite web|date=2022-05-01|title=Screenwriter Abi Morgan: 'I am absolutely the same, but profoundly changed' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/may/01/abi-morgan-interview-split-this-is-not-a-pity-memoir|access-date=2022-08-19|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=1 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501100601/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/may/01/abi-morgan-interview-split-this-is-not-a-pity-memoir|url-status=live}}

In 2015 Morgan was living in the north London neighbourhood of Stroud Green in Haringey{{Cite news|last=Bloomfield|first=Ruth|date=2015-05-13|title=A Victorian Home in London's Stroud Green Gets a Modern Basement|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-victorian-home-in-londons-stroud-green-gets-a-modern-basement-1431531587|access-date=2021-04-17|issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417202229/https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-victorian-home-in-londons-stroud-green-gets-a-modern-basement-1431531587|url-status=live|url-access=subscription }} with her husband, actor Jacob Krichefski.{{cite web|last1=Lewis|first1=Helen|title=Abi Morgan on Suffragette: "These were voiceless women. We gave them a voice" |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2015/10/abi-morgan-these-were-voiceless-women-we-gave-them-voice|website=New Statesman|date=15 October 2015| access-date=16 February 2017|archive-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217142745/http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2015/10/abi-morgan-these-were-voiceless-women-we-gave-them-voice|url-status=live}}

In January 2020, Morgan said that she was recovering from breast cancer.{{cite web|last=Ravindran|first=Manori|title=Writer Abi Morgan Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis |url=https://variety.com/2020/film/global/abi-morgan-breast-cancer-diagnosis-the-iron-lady-shame-the-split-1203481868/|website=Variety|date=27 January 2020|access-date=13 March 2020|archive-date=28 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128153725/https://variety.com/2020/film/global/abi-morgan-breast-cancer-diagnosis-the-iron-lady-shame-the-split-1203481868/|url-status=live}} She had chemotherapy and a mastectomy.{{cite news |last1=Cripps |first1=Charlotte |title=Abi Morgan interview: 'The Split is filled with a lot of the pain I've been through' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/abi-morgan-the-split-iron-lady-b2078275.html?r=82963 |access-date=28 December 2022 |work=The Independent |date=16 May 2022 |language=en}}

In 2011 her sister was the fundraiser at London's Unicorn Theatre.Maggie Brown, [https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2011/abi-morgan-cometh-the-hour/ Abi Morgan: Cometh the hour] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111061600/https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2011/abi-morgan-cometh-the-hour/ |date=11 November 2016 }}, The Stage, 15 July 2011.

Morgan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours, "For services to Theatre and Screenwriting".{{London Gazette |issue=62310 |date=9 June 2018 |page=B13 |supp=y }}

• Skinned (1997)
• Sleeping Around (1998) – co-written with Mark Ravenhill, Stephen Greenhorn and Hilary Fannin
• Fast Food (1999)
• Splendour (2000)
• Tiny Dynamite (2001)
• Tender (2001)
• Monster Mum (2005)
• Fugee (2008)
• Chain Play – Production II – co-written with Neil LaBute, Mike Poulton and Tanya Ronder
• The Night is Darkest Before the Dawn (2009), as part of The Great Game: Afghanistan
• Lovesong (2011)
• 27 (2011)
• The Mistress Contract (2014){{cite web|url=http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/the-mistress-contract|title=The Mistress Contract at The Royal Court Theatre|publisher=The Royal Court Theatre|access-date=13 September 2013|archive-date=15 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915024809/http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/the-mistress-contract|url-status=live}}
• The End (2017)

• Brick Lane (2007)
• The Iron Lady (2011)
• Shame (2011)
• The Invisible Woman (2013)
• Suffragette (2015)

• My Fragile Heart (2000)
• Murder (2002)
• Sex Traffic (2004)
• Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006)
• White Girl, part of White (2008) – with Hettie Macdonald, won the TV Spielfilm Award at the Cologne Conference
• Royal Wedding (2010)
• The Hour (2011)
• Birdsong (2012)
• River (2015)
• The Split (2018, 2020, 2022, 2024)
• Eric (2024)
• The Split Up (TBA) – with Ursula Rani Sarma{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/the-split-up|title=BBC commissions The Split Up, a spin-off from Abi Morgan's hit series The Split|website=bbc.co.uk/mediacentre|accessdate=25 February 2024}}

• {{Cite book |first=Abi|last=Morgan|year=2022 |title=This is Not a Pity Memoir |location=London |publisher=John Murray Press |isbn=978-1-5293-8833-6 |oclc=1313596963 }}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0604448}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100820165520/http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/morgan-abi.html Theatre credits]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/apr/09/abi-morgan-taliban-play The Guardian]

{{Abi Morgan}}

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{{Black Reel Award for Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted or Original}}

{{EmmyAward DramaMiniseriesWriting 2001–2025}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1968 births

Category:21st-century British screenwriters

Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter

Category:British dramatists and playwrights

Category:British women dramatists and playwrights

Category:British women screenwriters

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners

Category:Television show creators

Category:Writers from Cardiff