Ashley Pharoah

Ashley Pharoah (born September 13 1959) is a British television writer, co-creator of the successful drama series "Life on Mars", which began on BBC One in 2006.

Pharoah was born in Somerset [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679683/ Internet Movie Database] ] and educated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital school in Bristol. [ [http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/lifestyle/Goodbye-boarders/article-219386-detail/article.html Bristol Evening Post 15 July 2008] ]

After studying at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield in the 1980s, Pharoah began his television writing career on the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" in 1991, on which he worked for four years and where he met co-writer Matthew Graham. He went on in 1994 - 1995 to contribute five episodes to the popular BBC One drama series "Casualty" and four episodes to "Silent Witness" (1996). [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679683/ Internet Movie Database] ; [http://www.monasticproductions.com/bioap.htm Monastic Productions biography] ]

For ITV he created the long-running series "Where the Heart Is", for which he wrote episodes from 1997 to 2000, and contributed to the BBC One TV programme "Down to Earth" in 2001. Among other work in the early 2000s he scripted an adaptation of "Tom Brown's Schooldays", starring Stephen Fry, for the ITV1 network in 2005. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679683/ Internet Movie Database] ; [http://www.monasticproductions.com/bioap.htm Monastic Productions biography] ]

Meanwhile Pharoah, Matthew Graham and veteran "Eastenders" writer Tony Jordan spent years co-creating "Life on Mars", which was first shown in 2006, and Pharoah contributed episodes to both series of the acclaimed show. Other work around this time included creating the series "Wild at Heart" (2006 - 2007) for Company Pictures and adapting "Under the Greenwood Tree" for Ecosse Films. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679683/ Internet Movie Database] ; [http://www.monasticproductions.com/bioap.htm Monastic Productions biography] ]

In 2006 he formed Monastic Productions with Matthew Graham. Monastic Productions are involved in the "Life on Mars" spin-off "Ashes to Ashes" and co-produced the critically panned "Bonekickers", a 6-part drama series about archaeology, set in Bath. Both series are productions for BBC One. [ [http://www.monasticproductions.com/ Monastic Productions] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679683/ Ashley Pharoah] at the Internet Movie Database.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20060517045855/http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/insight_ashley_pharoah.shtml Ashley Pharoah interview] at bbc.co.uk.