Stephen Butchard
{{Short description|British screenwriter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Stephen Butchard
|birth_name =
|image =
| nationality = British
|birth_date =
|birth_place =
|occupation = Screenwriter, television producer
| known_for = The Last Kingdom
Vincent
Good Cop
}}
Stephen Butchard is a British screenwriter and television producer, best known for adapting Bernard Cornwell's The Saxon Stories into the BBC/Netflix drama series The Last Kingdom.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2014/tv/news/last-kingdom-bbc-carnival-viking-drama-1201259722/ |title='The Last Kingdom': BBC, Carnival Producing New Viking Drama |author=Laura Prudom |date=9 July 2014 |work=Variety |access-date=15 September 2015}}
Early life
Butchard was born in Liverpool. He trained as an engineer and spent a year in Beijing, China (September 1993 to October 1994), working on the Beijing underground rail network.
Career
Butchard began writing plays while working as an engineer. In 1997, he won the Dennis Potter Award for '‘Soft Sand, Blue Sea’', which secured him representation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/8d9181b7-0894-4add-87b4-db26d8c45b31|title='The Last Kingdom' - an interview with screenwriter Stephen Butchard|date=7 October 2015}} During the 2000s, he wrote several television films and series such as Always and Everyone, House of Saddam and Vincent. In 2010, BBC One would broadcast his mini-series Five Daughters, starring Ian Hart and Sarah Lancashire.{{cite news|author= French, Dan|date= 1 December 2009|url= http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a189346/sarah-lancashire-for-ipswich-murders-drama.html|title= Sarah Lancashire for Ipswich murders drama|publisher= Digital Spy|accessdate= 29 April 2010}} Set in 2006, it is about the Ipswich serial murders. Butchard said about the project. "Our hope is that this drama provides a glimpse of the real girls their families knew, and also leads to further debate on the impact of drugs and sex industries upon every town, every city in this country... and what action is, or isn't, being taken."{{cite news|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/08_august/29/five.shtml|title= Five Daughters: new drama commissioned for BBC One|publisher= British Broadcasting Corporation|work= BBC Press Office|date= 29 August 2009|accessdate= 29 April 2010}}
In 2012, Butchard wrote the cop drama Good Cop, following a constable whose partner is murdered.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00szy7c|title=BBC One - Good Cop|website=BBC|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-07-09}} Following the shooting of two police officers in Tameside, Greater Manchester, on 18 September, the BBC postponed the final episode, originally scheduled for Thursday 20 September. It would air later, on Saturday 13 October 2012.{{cite news|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19659128|title=Police drama Good Cop pulled after Manchester shootings|publisher= BBC|work= BBC News|date= 20 September 2012|accessdate= 20 September 2012}} Butchard adapted and showran the first three series of The Last Kingdom, which saw a transition from BBC Two to Netflix as distributor for the third series.{{cite web |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/the-last-kingdom-netflix-season-3-review/ |website=iNews|date=19 November 2018|title=The Last Kingdom season 3, review: a rise in blood and gore after move to Netflix|access-date=30 December 2018 }} In 2020, Channel 4 and Hulu broadcast his thriller Baghdad Central.{{cite web |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2020/05/27/baghdad-central-noir-desert |title='Baghdad Central' is noir in the desert |last=Morris |first=Anthony |date=28 May 2020 |website=SBS |publisher=Special Broadcasting Service |access-date=31 May 2020 |archive-date=6 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706165104/https://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2020/05/27/baghdad-central-noir-desert |url-status=live }}
In 2023, Butchard adapted The Good Mothers, a non-fiction book by British author Alex Perry on the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia, into a television series for Disney+. The series had its international premiere at 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in Berlinale Series on 21 February 2023,{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2023/01/berlinale-series-award-deadline-cooperation-world-premieres-1235223384/ |title= Berlinale Series Unveils Eight World Premieres & TV Jury|first= Jesse |last= Whittock |date=16 January 2023 |work= Deadline Hollywood |access-date=23 February 2023}} and won the Berlinale Series Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/disney-plus-the-good-mothers-wins-berlinale-series-award-1235331930/ |title= Berlin: Disney+ Mafia Drama 'The Good Mothers' Wins Inaugural Berlinale Series Award|first= Scott |last= Roxborough|date=22 February 2023|access-date=23 February 2023 |website= Hollywood Reporter |language=en}} In 2024, Disney+ streamed Butchard's adaptation of the Shardlake series of historical mystery novels by C. J. Sansom. In 2025, BBC One broadcast Butchard's crime drama This City Is Ours.https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/this-city-is-ours-trailer
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0124661}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butchard, Stephen}}
Category:20th-century British male writers
Category:21st-century British male writers
Category:British male television writers
Category:British male screenwriters