Matthew David Jones (born 5 August 1968) is a British

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

screenwriter and television producer, who has worked on a variety of popular drama programmes for several television networks in the UK, including '' Shameless,

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' and ''

Dirk Gently Dirk Gently (born Svlad Cjelli, also known as Dirk Cjelli) is a fictional character created by English writer Douglas Adams and featured in the books ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'', '' The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' and '' Th ...

''.https://web.archive.org/web/20050211183036/http://chat.channel4.com/pastchats/pastchat92.html Archived online web chat about ''Love in the 21st Century''

Early work

Matt Jones began his writing career as a columnist for ''

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the following year. In ...

'' in 1995, before the following year having a novel, '' Bad Therapy'', printed in

Virgin Publishing Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm ...

's range of licensed ''Doctor Who'' tie-in books, the '' New Adventures''. He later wrote '' Beyond the Sun'' for the same series.

Career

Jones' big break in television came in 1999, when he was the

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programs, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wit ...

Red Production Company Red Production Company Limited was a British independent television drama production company that was founded by Nicola Shindler and owned by French production & distribution company StudioCanal. Background Red Production Company was formed i ...

's controversial drama series ''

Queer as Folk ''Queer as Folk'' may refer to: * Queer as Folk (British TV series), ''Queer as Folk'' (British TV series), 1999–2000 * Queer as Folk (American TV series), ''Queer as Folk'' (American TV series), a 2000–2005 American and Canadian version of th ...

'', screened on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. The same year, he script edited another Channel 4 drama produced by Red, the anthology series ''Love in the 21st Century'', for which he also wrote one episode. The following year he worked as a writer on two series for

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

, their children's drama ''

Children's Ward ''Children's Ward'' (retitled ''The Ward'' from 1995 to 1998) is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its '' Children's ITV'' strand on weekday afternoons. It ai ...

'' and soap opera ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'', both aired on the ITV network. Returning to Red, in 2000 he script edited the first series of ''

Clocking Off ''Clocking Off'' is a British television drama series which was broadcast on BBC One for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott. It was effectively an a ...

'', and in 2001 he gained his first credit as a producer when he both wrote and produced the one-off drama ''Now You See Her'', starring

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English media personality, actress and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent competition show '' Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the national ''H ...

, for the satellite channel

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 1989, ...

. In 2003 he began working for

Company Pictures Company Pictures is a British television production company which has produced drama programming for many broadcasters. It was set up in 1998 by Charles Pattinson and George S. J. Faber, George Faber, colleagues at BBC Films. Their first film wa ...

, creating, writing and producing the crime drama ''Serious and Organised'', starring

Martin Kemp Martin John Kemp (born 10 October 1961) is an English musician and actor, best known as the bassist in the new wave band Spandau Ballet and for his role as Steve Owen in ''EastEnders''. He is the younger brother of Gary Kemp, who is also a ...

and again screened on ITV. Moving up to become an Executive Producer, he worked on another Company series for ITV, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

-set ''

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

''. In 2004 he was an Executive Producer on Company's drama series '' Shameless'', screened on

, and became the show's producer for the second season in 2005. In April 2005, Jones was announced as one of the writers working on the second season of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

revival of the science-fiction series ''

'', fulfilling a childhood ambition to work on the programme. His episodes, a two-parter with the titles "

The Impossible Planet "The Impossible Planet" is the eighth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on BBC One on 3 June 2006. It is the first part of a two-part story. The second part, ...

" and "

The Satan Pit "The Satan Pit" is the ninth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on 10 June 2006. It is the second part of a two-part story. The first part, " The Impossible Plane ...

", were broadcast on 3 and 10 June 2006. Jones also wrote the seventh episode of the second series of ''Doctor Who'' spin-off series ''

Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British-American science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect i ...

'', called " Dead Man Walking". In 2012, Jones wrote the second episode of the

BBC Four BBC Four 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 launched on 2 March 2002

TV series ''

'' based on the novels by

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

. In 2017, he wrote episodes of ''

Stan Lee's Lucky Man ''Stan Lee's Lucky Man'' is a British superhero crime drama television series created by Stan Lee and Neil Biswas. The series is produced by Carnival Films and POW! Entertainment for Sky 1, which follows the story of Murder Squad detective Har ...

''. In 2020, he worked on Abi Morgan's legal drama ''The Split''. More recently, Jones wrote on '' World on Fire'' and '' Joan''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Matt 1968 births Living people 20th-century British male writers British television producers British male novelists British soap opera writers Place of birth missing (living people) British science fiction writers British male screenwriters British male television writers Writers of Doctor Who novels