Robert Thorogood
{{Short description|English screenwriter and novelist}}
{{EngvarB|date=December 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Robert Thorogood
| image = RTfullsizeoutput 14fa.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Thorogood at the CWA Awards, 2017
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1972}}
| birth_place = Colchester, Essex, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| known_for = Death in Paradise
Beyond Paradise
Return to Paradise
Trackers
The Marlow Murder Club
| occupation = Author, screenwriter
| alma_mater = Downing College, Cambridge
}}
Robert Thorogood (born 1972 in Colchester, Essex)Biographical data in The Marlow Murder Club is an English screenwriter and Sunday Times Bestselling novelist. He created the BBC One murder mystery series Death in Paradise{{cite web|title=BBC FT Create Death in Paradise|url=https://variety.com/2010/scene/news/bbc-ft-create-death-in-paradise-1118028757/|work=Variety|date=9 December 2010|accessdate=31 October 2013}} as well as co-created two spin-off shows from it, Beyond Paradise and Return to Paradise. Since then, he's written The Marlow Murder Club series of murder mystery novels, which he turned into a TV series for PBS and UKTV.
He won France Film's "En Route to France" award in 2012.{{cite web|title=ROBERT THOROGOOD RÉCOMPENSÉ|url=http://www.podcastjournal.net/Robert-Thorogood-recompense_a10707.html|accessdate=31 October 2013}}
Personal life
Thorogood was educated at Uppingham School in Rutland where he met his future wife, Classic FM presenter Katie Breathwick.
He read History at Downing College, Cambridge, where he toured with the university's student comedy troupe Footlights in 1993 and was elected president in 1994.{{cite web|title=Cambridge Footlights|url=http://www.footlights.org/alumni-archive?name=1990-1999|publisher=Cambridge Footlights website|accessdate=31 October 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102122535/http://www.footlights.org/alumni-archive?name=1990-1999|archivedate=2 November 2013|df=dmy-all}} Soon after leaving Cambridge Thorogood set up a theatre company that toured small theatres and schools, the highlight of which was a production of Molière's The Miser that he directed and acted in alongside Robert Webb, David Mitchell and Olivia Colman.{{cite book|last=Mitchell|first=David|title=Back Story|year=2012|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0007351725}}
Writing career
Thorogood wrote for many years – offering scripts to the BBC, ITV and independent film companies{{cite web|last=Thorogood|first=Robert|title=Knight Hall Agency {{!}} Robert Thorogood|url=http://www.knighthallagency.com/client/robert-thorogood/|accessdate=31 October 2013}} – but before 2011 the only script of his that was actually produced was a Radio 4 afternoon drama play called From Abstraction, about the life of mathematician Paul Wolfskehl.
In 2008, Thorogood entered the inaugural Red Planet Prize and was a chosen finalist, where he was able to pitch his 'Copper in the Caribbean' idea to Tony Jordan.{{cite web|title=The series creator and lead writer shares his inspiration for new BBC One drama Death in Paradise|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/deathinparadise/thorogood.html|publisher=BBC Media Centre}} In 2011, the show was finally broadcast.{{cite web|title=Write the next Death in Paradise yourself|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2011-11-14/write-the-next-death-in-paradise---yourself|work=Radio Times|accessdate=31 October 2013}}{{cite web|title=Rob Thorogood on Breaking in to TV in the UK|url=https://soundcloud.com/londonscreenwriters/rob-thorogood-on-breaking-in|publisher=Chris Jones / London Screenwriters Festival|accessdate=11 November 2013}}
=''Death in Paradise''=
Thorogood wrote five episodes of the first series of Death in Paradise. The first episode aired in November 2011 to an overnight audience of nearly 6 million.{{cite web|title=Death in Paradise launches with nearly 6 million viewers|work=ATV Today |date=26 October 2011|url=http://www.atvtoday.co.uk/p1549-ratings/|accessdate=31 October 2013}} The first episode of the second series aired in 2013 to an overnight audience of nearly 7 million.{{cite news|title=Death in Paradise returns with nearly 7 million viewers|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jan/09/death-in-paradise-returns-bbc1|newspaper=The Guardian|date=9 January 2013|accessdate=31 October 2013|last1=Plunkett|first1=John}} Thorogood also wrote two episodes of the second series, three of the third series, two of the sixth and seventh series, and one episode in each of the others up until series nine.
==Spin-off novels==
In January 2014, it was announced that Thorogood had signed a deal with MIRA / Harlequin to write three Richard Poole Murder Mystery novels. The first of the three – A Meditation on Murder – was published in hardback in January 2015 and in paperback in May 2015.{{cite web|title=Harlequin Mira Signs 'Death in Paradise' Creator And Writer, Robert Thorogood, For Three-book Deal|url=http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/51737|publisher=Booktrade.info|accessdate=19 January 2014}}
The second – The Killing of Polly Carter – was published in hardback in December 2015 and in paperback in early 2016. The third – Death Knocks Twice – was published in hardback in July 2017 and in paperback in October 2017. Murder in the Caribbean, the fourth mystery, was published in December 2018.
=''Trackers''=
In 2018, it was announced that Thorogood was showrunning Trackers, a major new TV series set in South Africa,{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/deon-meyer-trackers-tv-adaptation-africa-germany-coproduction-1203079302/|title=TV Adaptation of Deon Meyer's 'Trackers' Set as Africa-Germany Co-Production|first1=Stewart|last1=Clarke|date=4 December 2018|accessdate=26 January 2020}} and an adaptation of the novel Trackers by Deon Meyer. Just as Death in Paradise pioneered the first co-production between the BBC and France Televisions, Trackers was the first co-production between M-Net in South Africa, ZDF in Germany and HBO's sister station Cinemax in America.
Just before the last episode aired in South Africa, it was already M-Net's best-performing show of the year.{{Cite web|url=https://themediaonline.co.za/2019/11/trailblazing-trackers-is-m-nets-top-performing-show-for-2019/|title=Trailblazing Trackers is M-Net's top-performing show for 2019|author=|date=20 November 2019|accessdate=26 January 2020}}
=''The Marlow Murder Club''=
==Novels==
In 2020 it was announced that Thorogood was writing a new murder mystery novel, The Marlow Murder Club. It focuses on a group of older women who form a club to investigate a series of killings in Marlow, Buckinghamshire (where Thorogood now lives with his family). It was published in January 2021 to overwhelmingly positive reviews and was chosen as the Booksellers' Association's Book of the Month.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ba-picks-thorogood-mystery-fiction-book-month-1231741|title=BA picks Thorogood mystery for Fiction Book of the Month | The Bookseller|website=www.thebookseller.com}} The second book in the series, Death Comes to Marlow, was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Cosy Crime novel published in the USA in 2022.{{cite web | url=https://edgarawards.com/2023edgarnominations/ | title=2023 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations | Edgar® Awards Info & Database }} The third book in the series, "The Queen of Poisons", went straight into the Sunday Times Bestseller charts at number 7.{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=2024-02-22 |title=The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK's definitive book chart |newspaper= The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/sunday-times-bestsellers-list-book-sales-chart-fnxjm0bnl |access-date=2024-02-22 |language=en |issn=0140-0460}}
==TV Show==
PBS and UKTV greenlit a television adaptation of The Marlow Murder Club, written by Thorogood and starring Samantha Bond, in June 2023.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2023/06/the-marlow-murder-club-pbs-uktv-death-in-paradise-creator-robert-thorogood-1235399020/|title='The Marlow Murder Club': PBS Masterpiece & UKTV Greenlight TV Adaptation From 'Death In Paradise' Creator|work=Deadline Hollywood|first=Max|last=Goldbart|date=June 5, 2023|access-date=June 5, 2023}} In March 2024 the series premiered in the UK on the Drama channel. There were two episodes each of two hours. Samantha Bond played Judith Potts with the other two members of the Club, Suzie Harris and Becks Starling, being played by Jo Martin and Cara Horgan respectively.
The TV show has subsequently been commissioned for a second series{{Cite web |last=Yossman |first=K. J. |date=2024-05-21 |title='The Marlow Murder Club' Renewed for Season 2 by Masterpiece, UKTV (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/the-marlow-murder-club-renewed-season-2-masterpiece-uktv-1236010616/ |access-date=2024-12-20 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} that shot in Marlow in the summer of 2024.
Speaking
Thorogood was a guest speaker at the 2012 London Screenwriters Festival.{{cite web|title=Speakers {{!}} Robert Thorogood|url=http://www.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/speakers/robert-thorogood|accessdate=31 October 2013}} Since then, he has spoken about creating international co-productions for the European TV Drama Series Lab in Berlin{{cite web|title=Experts|url=http://www.epi-medieninstitut.de/pn-speaker_seminar-279_en.html|publisher=Erich Pommer Institute|accessdate=19 January 2014}} and at the Totally Serialised TV Festival in London in 2014.{{cite web|title=Industry Event|url=http://www.institut-francais.org.uk/totallyserialized/industry-event/|publisher=Institut Français|accessdate=19 January 2014}} He has also been an after-dinner speaker at the Dagger Awards for the Crime Writers Association in 2017{{Cite web|url=https://thecwa.co.uk/news/cwa-daggers-2017-awarded-to-the-dry-spook-street-and-tall-oaks|title=CWA Daggers 2017 Awarded to The Dry, Spook Street and Tall Oaks — The Crime Writers' Association|website=thecwa.co.uk|access-date=2019-03-06}} and Bristol Crimefest in both 2018 and 2019.{{Cite web|url=http://www.crimefest.com/|title=CrimeFest|language=en|access-date=2019-03-06}}
Bibliography
- A Meditation on Murder (2015)
- The Killing of Polly Carter (2015)
- Death Knocks Twice (2017)
- Murder in the Caribbean (2018)
The Marlow Murder Club
- The Marlow Murder Club (2021)
- Death Comes to Marlow (2022)
- The Queen of Poisons (2024)
- Murder on the Marlow Belle (2025)
Filmography
| class="wikitable" |
| rowspan="2" | Year
! rowspan="2" | Title ! colspan="3" | Credited as |
|---|
| style="width:65px;"| Writer
! style="width:65px;"| Producer ! style="width:65px;"| Notes |
| 2011-present
| {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Creator, writer, executive producer |
| 2019
| Trackers | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Creator, writer, executive producer |
| 2023-present
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | Co-creator, writer |
| 2024-present
| {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Creator, executive producer, adapted from Thorogood's novel |
| 2024
| {{no}} | {{yes}} | Co-creator, executive producer |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|4412626}}
- Robert Thorogood at the [http://www.rodhallagency.com/index.php?art_id=000499 Knight Hall Agency]
- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert-Thorogood/e/B00MTAR75A/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 Robert Thorogood's novels at Amazon]
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
Category:People educated at Uppingham School
Category:21st-century English novelists
Category:English male novelists
Category:English television writers
Category:English screenwriters
Category:English male screenwriters
Category:English crime fiction writers
Category:English mystery writers
Category:English male television writers