Luke Snellin

Luke Snellin (born 9 March 1986) is a British film and television director and screenwriter.

He was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award in 2010 and named as one of ''Screen International'' "Stars of Tomorrow" in 2010 and one of ''Broadcast Magazine'''s "Hot Shots" in 2013.

Early life and education

Snellin attended Coopers Company and Coborn School in Upminster, Essex, before studying screenwriting at Bournemouth University.

Career

His short film ''Mixtape'' starring Bill Milner was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Short Film and won the Virgin Media Shorts competition. The film features music from The Kinks and Heart.

Jason Solomons singled out the film in his Trailer Trash column for The Guardian in the build up to the BAFTA Awards in 2010. He stated that he was "Immediately charmed by its retro story of a boy who makes a cassette of songs for the girl next door".

In honour of Mixtape's BAFTA nomination, BBC 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne invited Snellin on her show to share a mixtape from when he was 11 years old in the memory tapes segment.

He was then selected as one of seven directors, from nearly a thousand applicants, to direct an episode of original drama for Channel 4 through the broadcaster's " Coming Up" scheme in 2013.

This led to him directing episodes of BAFTA and Emmy-nominated ''My Mad Fat Diary'', Russell T Davies' ''Banana and'' Pete Bowker's ''The A Word.''

In 2018/19 he was the lead director on both BBC/Netflix coproduction ''Wanderlust'', written by Nick Payne and starring Toni Collette and ''Temple'', written by Mark O'Rowe and starring Mark Strong.

On Wanderlust, The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman remarked that "There’s a scene when the two are driving each other to their separate dates and the Bill Withers classic “Use Me” comes on the radio, and they both sing. In lesser hands, this would be an eye-roller, but director Luke Snellin, who does a consistently excellent job, uses the good will Payne has built up with these characters; the brief scene is more fun than trite, as both get into the song and laugh while singing along."

On Temple, Jeff Robson wrote for The i that "director Luke Snellin creates a suitably surreal atmosphere from the landscape of tunnels, staircases and side doors that Tube travellers glimpse out of the corners of their eyes every day." and Alastair McKay compared it to "at times, like early Tarantino" for The Evening Standard.

Snellin directed the feature film adaptation of John Green, Lauren Myracle and Maureen Johnson's young adult novel, ''Let It Snow'', released by Netflix on 8 November 2019. The film scored an 85% percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and stars Isabela Merced, Shamiek Moore, Odeya Rush and Joan Cusack. ''Let It Snow'' was nominated for a GLAAD award in 2020.

On ''Let It Snow'' Adam Chitwood wrote for Collider that “Luke Snellin makes his feature directorial debut with a warm, cinematic approach to the material, crafting a dynamic frame so that the film is visually engaging...it’s a treat to watch a Christmas movie that feels genuinely cinematic.”.

While The New York Times' Elisabeth Vincentelli said “this fat-free, affectionate debut feature from director Luke Snellin embodies the Christmas spirit of tolerance and generosity — spiced up with some genuinely funny scenes.”

In 2021 he directed the entirety of the second season of '' Feel Good'' starring Mae Martin, Charlotte Ritchie and Lisa Kudrow for which he won an RTS Award for Best Director - Comedy Drama at the RTS Craft and Design Awards. The show also won an NME Award for Best TV Show and was ranked at number 6 on The Guardian'
50 Best TV Shows of 2021

He directed episodes 10-13 of Netflix show ''One Day'' created by Nicole Taylor and based on the book of the same name by David Nicholls. Starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall, the show debuted t
critical and commercial success
in February 2024 with The Guardian calling it "a flawless rom com" and ranking it at number 3 on thei
50 Best TV Shows of 2024

In March 2025 '' One Day'' was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in the Limited Drama category.

Snellin directed and executive produced all four episodes of Warp Films mini series '' Reunion'' which began airing on BBC One on the 7th April 2025 and stars Matthew Gurney, Lara Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Eddie Marsan and Rose Ayling-Ellis.

Reunion tells the story of Daniel Brennan, a deaf man who is released from prison after being convicted of murder. He finds himself shunned by the deaf community and caught between seeking revenge and pursuing a relationship with his estranged daughter Carly.

The show is a bilingual drama written by deaf writer William Mager, featuring both spoken English and British Sign Language and called "groundbreaking" by The Standard and an "absolute revelation" by The Guardian.

Snellin talks about the origins of the show and the inclusive set in an interview with BBC Online "I wanted to immerse myself in deaf culture and in sign language - as there is a bilingual element, there are hearing characters, there is dialogue, but then there's also sign - to make sure we were making the series as authentically as possible. Deaf culture and the deaf community, for me, have been quite under-served on TV. I feel like, not only are we telling a story with a deaf protagonist and deaf cast members, but we're also working with some amazing deaf crew members as well."

Snellin began learning British Sign Language in order to direct the show as Georg Szalai writes for The Hollywood Reporter that "Snellin also made learning BSL a priority. “The first and most important thing for me was to learn as much BSL as I could. I wanted to meet the deaf cast and crew halfway and begin to really understand the way that sign language works as a form of communication,” he tells ''THR''. “By the end of the shoot, I could communicate with the deaf cast and crew members in sign and that felt really rewarding. I wanted to respect the language and the deaf community by doing my bit to learn as much as I could as a hearing person.”

Personal life

He lives in South East London with his wife and two children.

Credits

Film

Television

Short Film

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Snellin, Luke
1986 births
Living people
English screenwriters
English male screenwriters
English film directors