James Graham

Playwright and writer for film and television
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Biography

James Graham is a playwright and film and television writer who won the Pearson Playwriting Bursary in 2006 and went on to win the Catherine Johnson Award for the Best Play in 2007 for his play Eden's Empire.

James' play This House premièred at the Cottesloe Theatre in September 2012, directed by Jeremy Herrin, and transferred to the Olivier in 2013 where it enjoyed a sell out run and garnered critical acclaim and a huge amount of interest and admiration from current and former MP's for his rendition of life in the House of Commons.

James's play Tory Boyz for the National Youth Theatre caused a storm during its run at the Soho Theatre and received excellent reviews for its portrayal of young, gay men in the modern Conservative Party. His play The Whisky Taster premiered at the Bush Theatre in early 2010 to uniformly excellent reviews.

He has written the book for Finding Neverland the musical with music by Gary Barlow. It opened in Boston in Summer 2014 and transferred to Broadway in Spring 2015. His play The Vote at the Donmar Warehouse aired in real time on TV in the final 90 minutes of the 2015 polling day and has been nominated for a BAFTA.

His first film for television, Caught in a Trap, was broadcast on ITV1 on Boxing Day 2008. James was picked as one of Broadcast Magazine's Hotshots in the same year. He is developing original series and adaptations with Tiger Aspect, Leftbank, Kudos and the BBC.

His film X and Y has been produced by Origin Pictures and BBC Films and was on the prestigious 'Brit List', the list of the best unproduced screenplays in the UK. It opened in cinemas in Spring 2015 starring Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins & Eddie Marsan. He is currently working on an adaptation of 1984 for director Paul Greengrass. 

James' play Privacy will open at the Public Theatre Off Broadway in New York in July 2016 starring Daniel Radcliffe.  

CV

Featured Works

The Vote

Writer

X and Y

Writer

Finding Neverland

Writer

Theatre

Writer

Monster Raving Loony
 

The life of Screaming Lord Sutch as told through iconic British comedy styles of the 20th century. 

Theatre Royal Plymouth and Soho Theatre
 
The Vote
Director Josie Rourke
 

A Real time play for television and theatre. 

Donmar Warehouse
 
Privacy
Director Josie Rourke
Starring
  • Gunnar Cauthery
  • Paul Chahidi
  • Nina Sosanya
  • Daniel Radcliffe
    •  

    A dramatic investigation of the digital age

    Donmar Warehouse and Public Theatre Off Broadway, NYC
     
    The Angry Brigade
    Director James Grieve
    Writer James Graham
     

    A Paines Plough production about a young urban guerilla group that mobilises against MPs, embassies, police and pageant queens

    Theatre Royal Plymouth
     
    Finding Neverland
    Producer Harvey Weinstein
    Director Diane Paulus
    Starring
  • Kelsey Grammer
  • Laura Michelle Kelly
  • Matthew Morrison
    •  

    A musical about the playwright who wrote Peter Pan, with music and lyrics by Gary Barlow

    Finding Neverland has been nominated at the Drama League Awards 2014-2015 for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical and Distinguished Performance Award. 

    American Repertory Theater in Massachusetts, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway
     
    Sweet Bird of Youth
    Director Marianne Elliott
    Starring
  • Charles Aitken
  • Daniel Betts
  • Kim Cattrall
  • Louise Dylan
    •  
    Dramaturg
    The Old Vic
     
    Untitled Commission
    Producer Nick Frankfort
     
    New commission for Nick Frankfort
    CMP Limited
     
    This House
    Nominated: Best Play Evening Standard Awards
    Starring
  • Phil Daniels
  • Vincent Franklin
  • Philip Glenister
  •  
    Set in Westminster This House strips politics back to the practical realities of parliament
    National Theatre
     
    66 Books
     
    Hand-Me-Downs was written as part of the epic performance cycle commissioned by the Bush to open their new theatre
    The Bush Theatre, London
     
    Bassett
    Director Anthony Banks
     

    Play for young people

    National Theatre Connections. National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic.
     
    The Man
    Director Kate Wasserberg
    Starring
  • Samuel Barnett
  • Leander Deeny
  • George Rainsford
  • James Graham
    •  
    One man reviews his life of the past year when completing his tax return - with the help of the audience
    Finborough Theatre
     
    The Whisky Taster
    Director James Grieve
    Starring
  • Samuel Barnett
  • Chris Larkin
  • Simon Merrells
  • Kate O'Flynn
    •  
    Two Generation Y-ers fall in love at an advertising agency
    Bush Theatre, London
     
    A History of Falling Things
    Director Kate Wasserberg
    Starring
  • Di Botcher
  • Philip Bretherton
  • Kate McGuinness
  • Francois Pandolfo
    •  

    A love story between two people who suffer from a terrible fear of falling things and live lives trapped by their condition

    Clwyd Theatre Cymru
     
    SuddenLossOfDignity.com
    Starring
  • Katherine Drysdale
  • Felix Scott
  • Hugh Skinner
    •  
    Co-written play for The Bush and the Latitude Festival
    The Bush Theatre
     
    Sons of York
    Director Kate Wasserberg
    Starring
  • Barry Aird
  • Colette Kelly
  • William Maxwell
  • Kazia Pelka
    •  
    Set during the winter of discontent, three generations of a family in Hull come to terms with the changes in the country
    Finborough Theatre
     
    Tory Boyz
    Producer National Youth Theatre
    Director Guy Hargreaves
     
    Play looking at prejudice, tolerance and tradition in the British Tory Party
    Soho Theatre
     
    Little Madam
    Director Kate Wasserberg
    Starring
  • Catherine Skinner
  • Simon Yadoo
    •  
    Margaret Thatcher reverts to her childhood and forsees the story of her career
    Finborough Theatre
     
    Eden's Empire
    Director Gemma Fairlie
    Starring
  • Daisy Beaumont
  • Michael Kirk
  • Heywood Morse
  • Jamie Newell
    •  
    Political thriller about Anthony Eden and the Suez Crisis
    Finborough Theatre
     
    Albert's Boy
    Director Max Lewendel
    Starring
  • Gerard Monaco
  • Victor Spinetti
    •  
    Albert Einstein is forced to confront his past when he receives an unexpected visitor
    Finborough Theatre
     
    Coal Not Dole
    Starring
  • Mark Joseph
  • Tess Mitchell
  • Kathryn Oliver
    •  
    Play inspired by the experiences of a former mining community
    Edinburgh Festival
     

    TV

    Writer

    Coalition
    1 x 90
    Creator James Graham
    Producer Sarah Curtis, Dixie Linder (producing), Nick Marston (Exec. producer)
    Director Alex Holmes
     

    Explores the rise of Nick Clegg during the build-up to the coalition. 

    Cuba Pictures for Channel 4
     
    See Now
    Over Hill and Dale
     
    Adaptation of the Gervase Phinn book
    Tiger Aspect for BBC
    In development
     
    Prisoner's Wives
    1 x 60'
    Producer Anna Ferguson
    Starring
  • Jonas Armstrong
  • Natalie Gavin
  • Pippa Haywood
  • Emma Rigby
    •  
    Drama about wives of prisoners set in Sheffield
    Tiger Aspect for BBC1
     
    Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Series 4, Episode 6
    1 x 45'
    Creator Belle de Jour
    Starring
  • Billie Piper
    •  
    Tiger Aspect for ITV2
     
    Khao San Road
    Pilot for 6 x 45'
     
    Comedy drama about young people travelling in the Far East co-written by Ben Ockrent
    World Productions
    In development
     
    Caught In A Trap
    1 x 90'
    Producer Jill Green
    Director Michael Samuels
    Starring
  • Jim Carter
  • Connie Fisher
  • Geraldine James
    •  
    An Elvis-obsessed parking attendent steals from the parking metres to fund her love of 'The King'
    Greenlit Productions for ITV1
     
    See Now

    Creator & Writer

    Face the Music
    Pilot for 6 x 60'
     
    ITV Studios for ITV
    In development
     
    Buddy Cops
    Pilot for 6 x 60'
     
    Two coppers on the beat
    Kudos Film and Television for ITV
    In development
     
    Candy Floss
    Pilot for 6 x 60'
    Producer Charles Steele
     
    Pilot.  A student discovers his estranged father is the head of a gypsy family
    Cowboy Films for Channel 4
    In development
     
    Chocolate Wars
    Pilot for 6 x 60'
     
    Television adaptation of the book Chocolate Wars, written by Deborah Cadbury
    Origin Pictures for BBC
    In development
     
    Jack and the Mouse
    Pilot for 6 x 60'
     
    New drama about a French thief and a British banker fighting to return fortune to the people
    Left Bank
    In development
     
    Meds
    Pilot for 6 x 60'
    Producer Sally Woodward Gentle
     
    Carnival Films for BBC 3
    In development
     

    Writer & Creator

    This House
     
    Left Bank
    In development
     
    Number 10
    Producer Kevin Loader
    Director Roger Michell
     
    Sky
    In Development
     

    Film

    Writer

    1984
    Director Paul Greengrass
     

    New big-screen adaptation of George Orwell’s classic dystopian science-fiction novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
     
    Mrs Queen Takes the Train
     

    An adaptation of the novel by William Kuhn, it imagines a time when a bored Queen Elizabeth wanders out of Buckingham Palace in search of freedom and fun.

    Weinstein Company
    In development
     
    X and Y
    Director Morgan Matthews
    Starring
  • Asa Butterfield
  • Sally Hawkins
  • Eddie Marsan
  • Rafe Spall
    •  

    Coming of age feature about young maths prodigies on a trip to China that was listed on the Britlist 2011

    BBC Films
    Origin Pictures
     
    Gypsy Boy
     

    Adaptation of Mikey Walsh's autobiography about growing up in a Romany Gypsy family

    Magna Films
    In development
     
    Garagistas
     

    Film set in the 1950s about Formula One racing

    BBC Films
    DMC Films
    In development
     

    Radio

    Writer

    Where Shall I Go? What Shall I Do?
    2016
    Writer 
    Director Sasha Yevtushenko.
     

    James Graham's short drama explores how the 'movement of people' isn't just a distant, global phenomenon but something that's affecting many young people here and now.

    Production Company BBC
    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Dividing the Union
    2014
     

     
    The Grudge
    1 x 45'
    2011
    Director Peter Kavanagh
     

    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     
    Albert's Boy
    1 x 45'
    2009
    Director Peter Kavanagh
    Starring
  • Richard Laing
  • Victor Spinetti
    •  
    Adaptation of his stage play about Albert Einstein.
    Production Company BBC Radio 4
     
    How You Feelin' Alf?
    1 x 45'
    2009
    Producer Peter Kavanagh
    Starring
  • Annabelle Dowler
  • David Hargreaves
  • David Ryall
  • Malcolm Tierney
    •  
    Set during the winter of discontent the play is about Labour stalwart Alf and his struggle to vote

    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
     

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    • @gavinkalin @thishouseplay thank you, Gavin! Great to be back...

      Where I surprise myself by seeing the good in those mean old Whips... https://t.co/9xsbSBklBL

      The link between airport security and auditioning. And the best bit of writing you'll read this week https://t.co/kpK8Ina6T2