Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies is television's most successful and prolific screenwriter. He is the producer's number one choice when it comes to original adaptations of classic novels, and he has also written popular contemporary adaptations and several original works of his own. In addition to the numerous awards he has received over the years, he has been honored with a BAFTA Fellowship and a whole program devoted to him on The Southbank Show.

He was born on 20 September 1936 in Cardiff, Wales and educated at Whitchurch Grammar School, Cardiff, and University College, London. His first career before he became a full-time writer was teaching: at St Clements Dane Grammar School from 1958-61; Woodberry Down School from 1961-63, Coventry College of Education (lecturer) from 1963-71 and the University of Warwick from 1971-87. He married Diana Lennox Huntley in 1960, and they have one son and one daughter.

Davies' work has always been characterized by black humor and he is not afraid to take risks. He was the man who famously had Mr Darcy emerge dripping wet in an encounter with Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. He also caused a stir with scenes of lesbian sex in Tipping The Velvet. His other notable adaptations include Mother Love, the House Of Cards trilogy, A Rather English Marriage, The Old Devil, Take a Girl Like You, Vanity Fair, Middlemarch, Wives & Daughters, The Way We Live Now, He Knew He Was Right, Daniel Deronda and Brideshead Revisited. His innovative adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House was proclaimed a masterpiece by critics and the public alike. Most recently he adapted Alan Hollinghurst's Line of Beauty and two Jane Austen novels, His own original work for the BBC includes A Very Peculiar Practice, Lucky Sunil and the popular 90s comedy Game On. For ITV, he has adapted Falling, Doctor Zhivago, Moll Flanders, Boudica and Othello.

Davies has also written several movie screenplays, including John Boorman's The Tailor of Panama (starring Pierce Brosnan), the box office hit Bridget Jones's Diary and the sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.

He has also published a number of novels including A Very Peculiar Practice (1986), The New Frontier (1987), Getting Hurt (1989), and 11 children's books including the Marmalade series.