Peter Harness (born 1976) is an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and producer. He was the writer of ''

Wallander Wallander may refer to: TV, film, books * Kurt Wallander, a fictional Swedish police inspector in novels by Henning Mankell :*Wallander (film series), ''Wallander'' (film series), Swedish-language television films of the Wallander stories starring ...

'', '' Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'' and ''

Constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

'', and has contributed to programmes such as ''

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 ...

'', '' McMafia'' and '' Case Histories''.

Early life

He grew up in Hornsea, East Yorkshire and attended

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

where he studied English. He is a former president of the Oxford Revue. He was one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow, 2007 and is a recipient of the Dennis Potter Screenwriting Award.

Early works

''Mongoose'', his first original stage play, was performed at the Southwark Playhouse in 2003 (directed by Thea Sharrock) and later at the Assembly Rooms,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and the

Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Theatre is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. The Grade II listed building was built in 1930 with interiors in the Art Deco style as the Whitehall Theatre; it regularly staged ...

, London. The text is published by

Nick Hern Books Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of Play (theatre), plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen Publishing, Methuen drama editor Nicholas Hern in 1988. History Nick Hern ...

. In 2005, he adapted the

M.R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English Medieval studies, medievalist scholar and author who served as provost (education), provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as w ...

short story "A View From A Hill" for BBC4. It was the first in a new annual series of BBC '' Ghost Stories for Christmas''. Harness went on to write several other single films for BBC4, including a biopic of

Frankie Howerd Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of a soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...

, ''Rather You Than Me'', starring

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams (), is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little ...

and Rafe Spall, which was part of the ''Curse of Comedy'' season, as well as the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

drama, '' The Forgotten Fallen'', starring Bill Paterson,

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. Best known for his acting work on stage and screen as well as for co-creating television shows with Steven Moffat, he has received ...

and Charlotte Riley, which dealt with the efforts of a medical team in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

to combat the disease in 1918. '' City of Vice'', a drama series about the

Bow Street Runners The Bow Street Runners were the law enforcement officers of the Bow Street Magistrates' Court in the City of Westminster. They have been called London's first professional police force. The force originally numbered six men and was founded in 1 ...

and the birth of the English police, starring Ian McDiarmid and

Iain Glen Iain Alan Sutherland Glen (born 24 June 1961) is a Scottish actor. He has appeared as Dr. Alexander Isaacs/Tyrant in three films of the Resident Evil (film series), ''Resident Evil'' film series (2004–2016) and as Ser Jorah Mormont, Jorah Morm ...

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English writer and magistrate known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His 1749 comic novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' was a seminal work in the genre. Along wi ...

and his brother John, was shown on Channel Four in 2008. Harness (along with co-writer Clive Bradley) was nominated for a Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Series. His first original screenplay, '' Is Anybody There?'' was filmed by Irish director John Crowley in 2007. The movie, set in an old people's home, starred

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...

, David Morrissey, Anne-Marie Duff and Bill Milner. It was premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

, 2008, and released theatrically across Europe and the US in 2009. Harness was nominated for a

Writers Guild Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility The ...

for the film.

Career

Harness was the lead writer and executive producer 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 ...

's ''

'', starring

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

. He wrote five feature length films for the series: '' The Dogs of Riga'', ''

Before the Frost ''Before the Frost'' (''Innan Frosten'', 2002) is a novel by Swedish crime-writer Henning Mankell. The protagonist is Linda Wallander, daughter of Inspector Wallander. The book was to be the first in a three-book series with Linda as the ma ...

'', a new story developed by

Henning Mankell Henning Georg Mankell (; 3 February 1948 – 5 October 2015) was a Swedish crime writer, children's author, and dramatist, best known for a series of mystery novels starring his most noted creation, Inspector Kurt Wallander. He also wrote a ...

and Harness called ''An Event in Autumn'', and the two-part finale, ''A Lesson in Love'' and ''

The Troubled Man ''The Troubled Man'' (Swedish: ''Den orolige mannen'') is a crime fiction novel by Swedish author Henning Mankell, featuring police inspector Kurt Wallander. It is the twelfth and final novel in the Wallander series. The pace of ''The Troubled M ...

''. Branagh won an

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

for his role in the series. Aside from ''

'', Harness worked on several other successful crime series in the 2010s. In 2011, he adapted Kate Atkinson's novel '' When Will There Be Good News?'' as part of the

BBC1 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 (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

series '' Case Histories'', starring

Jason Isaacs Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for his portrayal of D.J. in ''Event Horizon'' (1997), Ronald Quincy in ''Armageddon'' (1998), Colonel William Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' ...

as private detective Jackson Brodie. Harness's episodes of the series won a

Scottish BAFTA BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

for Best Television Drama, 2011. Harness also adapted the fourth Jackson Brodie book, ''Started Early, Took My Dog'' for the second series of '' Case Histories'', starring

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act ...

, which filmed in Summer 2012. Harness also wrote and executive produced on the BBC crime drama series '' McMafia'', based on Mischa Glenny's book about the Russian Mafia, which starred James Norton. In 2015, he adapted Susanna Clarke's novel '' Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell'' into a seven-part BBC miniseries of the same name. The series, starring

Eddie Marsan Edward Maurice Charles Marsan (born 9 June 1968) is an English actor. He won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008). Early life and ...

and

Bertie Carvel Robert Hugh Carvel (born 6 September 1977) is a British film and theatre actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in '' Matilda the Musical'', and for Best ...

, premiered on BBC One in May 2015. It was nominated for four BAFTA awards and recognised by the British Film Institute as one of the top ten most important television programmes of 2015. From 2014-2018, Harness wrote extensively for

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker i ...

as the

Twelfth Doctor The Twelfth Doctor is an incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, the protagonist of the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Peter Capaldi in three ...

. He wrote "

Kill the Moon "Kill the Moon" is the seventh episode of the eighth series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 October 2014. The episode was written by Peter Harness and directed by Paul Wi ...

" the seventh episode of Series 8; a 2-part story titled " The Zygon Invasion" and "

The Zygon Inversion "The Zygon Inversion" is the eighth episode of the Doctor Who (series 9), ninth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 7 November 2015, and was written by Peter Harness and Stev ...

" for

Series 9 The ninth series of the children's television series '' Hi-5'' aired between 11 June 2007 and 10 August 2007 on the Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial ...

, and "

The Pyramid at the End of the World "The Pyramid at the End of the World" is the seventh episode of the tenth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was written by Peter Harness and Steven Moffat and broadcast on 27 May 2017 on BBC One. "The Py ...

" for Capaldi's final series. Harness novelised " The Zygon Invasion" episodes as part of the ''

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

Collection''. In 2019, he wrote a new miniseries adaptation of ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'' for BBC One, produced by

Mammoth Screen Mammoth Screen Limited is a UK-based production company that was established in 2007 by Michele Buck and Damien Timmer. It produces drama for key UK broadcasters, especially ITV, and international distribution. ITV announced on 1 June 2015 t ...

and starring Rafe Spall,

Eleanor Tomlinson Eleanor May Tomlinson (born 19 May 1992) is an English actress. She has appeared in films including '' Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging'' (2008), ''Jack the Giant Slayer'' (2013), ''Colette'' (2018) and '' Love Wedding Repeat'' (2020). She al ...

and

Robert Carlyle Robert Carlyle (born 14 April 1961) is a Scottish actor. His film work includes: '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' The Full Monty'' (1997), '' Ravenous'' and ''The World Is Not Enough'' (both 1999), '' There's Only One Jimmy Grimble'' (2000), '' ...

. On April 6, 2022, it was announced Apple TV+ had greenlit Harness' conspiracy thriller series ''

''.

Other projects

He has also been active in the

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

theatre community as part of the theatre group ''Teater Insite'' both as an actor and a writer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harness, Peter 1976 births Living people People from Hornsea English science fiction writers English television writers English screenwriters English male screenwriters English male dramatists and playwrights English dramatists and playwrights English male stage actors Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford English male television writers