Ben Richards (born 1964) is a British screenwriter and novelist. He has been the lead writer on Spooks and is the writer/creator of Party Animals, Outcasts, COBRA and Showtrial. He also created “The Tunnel” from the Scandinavian original of “The Bridge” as well as adapting “The Cuckoo’s Calling”, the first in Robert Galbraith’s “Strike” series for BBC1.

Career

Before writing

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

and TV dramas, he worked for three years as a housing officer in

Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the ...

and

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

, London. As a research student at UCL's Department of Geography he spent a year investigating public housing in Chile and on his return to Britain began his first novel "to alleviate the boredom of analysing questionnaires" for his PhD thesis. Richards was a lecturer at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

and at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, where he taught

development studies Development studies is an interdisciplinary branch of social science. Development studies is offered as a specialized master's degree in a number of reputed universities around the world. It has grown in popularity as a subject of study since the e ...

, specialising in South America. He is now a full-time writer. His novels are ''Throwing the House out of the Window'' (1996), ''Don't Step on the Lines'' (1997), ''The Silver River'' (1999), ''A Sweetheart Deal'' (2001), ''The Mermaid and the Drunks'' (2004) and ''Confidence'' (2006). He also contributed to the

New Puritans The New Puritans was a literary movement ascribed to the contributors to a 2000 anthology of short stories entitled ''All Hail the New Puritans'', edited by Nicholas Blincoe and Matt Thorne. The project is said to have been inspired by the Dogme 9 ...

anthology of 2000. As a screenwriter, Richards has written for the

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. ...

('' Spooks'' and '' Party Animals''), ITV ('' The Fixer'') and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

(''

No Angels No Angels are an all-female pop group from Germany, formed in 2000. Originally a quintet, consisting of band members Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls, they originated on the debut season of th ...

''). He has also written for the British/French crime drama television series '' The Tunnel''.

Writing credits

References

External links

3am interview
* 1964 births Living people Academics of the University of Birmingham 21st-century English novelists English male novelists English screenwriters English male screenwriters British television writers British science fiction writers English television writers British male television writers 21st-century British screenwriters 21st-century English male writers {{England-novelist-stub