Adrian Poynton (born 29 January 1979) is a British

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, producer and former

stand up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories ...

. He is best known as the creator and writer of

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

comedy ''

White Van Man "White van man" is a stereotype used in the United Kingdom for a smaller-sized commercial van driver, typically perceived as a selfish, inconsiderate driver who is mostly petit bourgeois and often aggressive. According to this stereotype, the " ...

'' and its American remake ''

Family Tools ''Family Tools'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from May 1 to July 10, 2013, and aired on Wednesdays at 8:30 pm ET. The series was created by Bobby Bowman, is produced by Mark Gordon, ABC Studios and ITV Studios America. It is based on t ...

''. He has written projects for

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

, ITV,

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and CBS and is often used as a

Script doctor A script doctor is a writer or playwright hired by a film, television, or theatre production company to rewrite an existing script or improve specific aspects of it, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, themes, and other eleme ...

Biography

Born in Staffordshire in 1979, Poynton attended John Taylor High School at

Barton-under-Needwood Barton-under-Needwood is a large village in the East Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. Situated a mile from the A38, and located between Burton upon Trent and Lichfield. It had a population of 4,225 at the 2011 census. It is al ...

in Staffordshire in the early 1990s. He first began performing as a member of the Lichfield Youth Theatre. For many years he toured as a

regularly performing in comedy clubs and theaters across the UK and Europe. He was also one of the UK's most popular TV studio audience warm-ups.

Writing career

In 2003 his play, ''A Very Naughty Boy'' based on the life of

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fo ...

Graham Chapman Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surreal comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Pyth ...

, won an

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

First award. It then had a national tour followed by a West End run at London's

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

. During this time he was also writing scripts for children's Television. His scripts having appeared on

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older chil ...

and

The Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compa ...

. In 2011 he created and wrote the highly rated

sitcom, ''

''. It held the record for being the highest rated launch of a comedy ever on the channel. In 2012 ''White Van Man'' returned for a second series with Adrian once again writing all the scripts. In 2012 he also worked on series two of supermarket sitcom ''

Trollied ''Trollied'' is a British sitcom about employees in a fictional supermarket named "Valco", which debuted on Sky One on 4 August 2011 and ended on 23 December 2018. The series was filmed in a purpose-built replica supermarket in the Bottle Yard ...

'' for

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1 ...

. In 2013 White Van Man was remade in America as ''

'' for

with Poynton overseeing the show, writing episodes and serving as Co-Creator and Producer. Thirteen episodes were ordered on 11 May 2012, for the first season. It was later reported on 10 November 2012, that ABC cut their order from 13 episodes to 10 because of scheduling conflicts. ''Family Tools'' was canceled on 10 May 2013, after only two episodes had aired. However, the remaining episodes aired over the summer. He contributed audio plays for the Big Finish Doctor Who ranges, starting with the

Fourth Doctor The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Tom Baker. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the ...

release, ''Dethras''. He also wrote for the spin-off ''Jenny - The Doctor's Daughter'' starring his friend and ''White Van Man'' actress

Georgia Tennant Georgia Elizabeth Tennant (; born 25 December 1984) is an English actress and producer. She played Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon's daughter Abigail in ''The Bill'', Jenny in the '' Doctor Who'' episode " The Doctor's Daughter" and Lady Vi ...

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poynton, Adrian Living people 1979 births English comedy writers British comedy writers British comedians British male writers British male television writers English screenwriters English male screenwriters English television writers English dramatists and playwrights