Matthew Baylis (born 1971), also known as Matt Baylis and M. H. Baylis, is a British novelist, screenwriter and journalist.

Early life

Baylis was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. He was educated at

Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby is a 7–18 boys Private school, private day school, located in Great Crosby on Merseyside. The school's motto is that of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors: ''Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt'' (Sma ...

, and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, and spent most of his early years in

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, Merseyside.

Career

A former storyliner on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's flagship

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'', he adapted Catrin Collier's novel ''Hearts of Gold'', set in the 1930s, for the screen, and this was broadcast as a two-parter on BBC One in July 2003. He subsequently went with former ''EastEnders'' executive producer Matthew Robinson to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, where he co-created, co-storylined and trained a team of local writers for a six-part drama pilot. Robinson later invited him to

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, to do the same on ''

Taste of Life ''Taste of Life'' () is a Taiwanese Hokkien television drama that began airing on SET Taiwan in Taiwan on 28 July 2015, from Mondays to Fridays. Synopsis Chu-Tsai, Chao and his wife have five children. Devoted all his life into developing soy s ...

'', a major Cambodian drama series funded by the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

Trust and the

Department for International Development The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

. Continuing his involvement in Cambodia, Baylis scripted ''Palace of Dreams'', a BBCWST-funded romantic comedy film, aimed at younger audiences; '' Vanished'' – a film-noir thriller made by Robinson's company

Khmer Mekong Films Khmer Mekong Films (KMF) is a major Cambodian film and television production company based in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Founded by Matthew Robinson, a former director and executive producer of the BBC television series '' Byker G ...

, which showed to great acclaim across Cambodia in 2009, and has been shown at the

Pyongyang International Film Festival The Pyongyang International Film Festival is a biennial cultural exhibition held in Pyongyang, North Korea. Until 2002, the film festival was reserved to "non-aligned and other developing countries". History The event originated in 1987 as the P ...

; and he co-created, and wrote scripts for ''AirWaves'', a contemporary drama series funded by the U.S. government, which aired on Cambodia's TV channel CTN. The author of two comic novels, ''Stranger than Fulham'' and ''The Last Ealing Comedy'' he was the television critic for the ''Daily Express'' from September 2005 until August 2018 and has also written on television and other subjects for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', ''

Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' and ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

'' His third novel ''A Death at the Palace'' is a crime thriller set in Tottenham - the first in the Rex Tracey series - and it was published by Old Street on 13 March 2013. After being awarded a first class degree from Cambridge, in the disciplines of anthropology and theology, Baylis began describing himself as an 'amateur anthropologist' and his 2013 book ''Man Belong Mrs Queen'' gives an account of his time on

Tanna Island Tanna (sometimes misspelled ''Tana'') is an island in southern Vanuatu. Tanna is the most populous island of Tafea Province, and the third most populous in the country (after Efate and Espiritu Santo). It is home to five indigenous languages, w ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

, researching the Prince Philip Movement . In December 2013 and January 2014 the book was

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 series, first broadcast in 1998. It features daily readings from an abridged version of a selected book read over five or occasionally ten weekday episodes. Each episode is approximately 15 min ...

''. Baylis was interviewed by a number of media outlets following the death of HRH Prince Philip, on 9 April 2021. In an interview with Sally Guyoncourt for ''i-News'' on 10 April 2021, he suggested that the late Duke's grieving followers might transfer their allegiance to Prince/King Charles. He was also interviewed on 12 April 2022 by the BBC's Chief International Correspondent

Lyse Doucet Lyse Marie Doucet (; born 24 December 1958) is a Canadian journalist who is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and senior presenter. She presents on BBC World Service radio and BBC World News television, and also reports for BBC Ra ...

for the daily programme

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

, endeavouring to give listeners a snapshot of the Philip movement's history and explaining his own, personal connection to the late Duke. Baylis's fourth novel, and the second in the Rex Tracey series of

Haringey The London Borough of Haringey ( , same as Harringay) is a London borough in north London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three forme ...

-set crime thrillers, is ''The Tottenham Outrage'' published on 15 July 2014 by Old Street. As well as a contemporary mystery on the streets of North London, this book presents a fact-based, but fictionalized re-imagining of the real

Tottenham Outrage The Tottenham Outrage of 23 January 1909 was an armed robbery in Tottenham, North London, that resulted in a two-hour chase between the police and armed criminals over a distance of , with an estimated 400 rounds of ammunition fired by the thie ...

, a bungled robbery attempt by Russian anarchists in January 1909. His fifth novel, and the third in the Rex Tracey series of

-set crime thrillers is ''Black Day At The Bosphorus Café'', which was published by Old Street on 28 May 2015. It concerns a pair of suspicious deaths in the multi-cultural melting pot of Rex's beloved 'manor', Wood Green: one, a young Kurdish activist, the second, a council whistleblower. Whilst reporting the story, and following his suspicions, Rex ventures into a dangerous landscape of honour-killings, high level corruption and clashing traditions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baylis, Matthew 1971 births Living people British male journalists British male novelists British male screenwriters British male television writers Writers from Nottingham People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby