Sarah Williams is a British producer and screenwriter perhaps best known for writing the scripts to the 2005 television film '' Wallis & Edward'' and co-writing the 2007 feature film ''

Becoming Jane ''Becoming Jane'' is a 2007 biographical romantic drama film directed by Julian Jarrold. It depicts the early life of the British author Jane Austen and her lasting love for Thomas Langlois Lefroy. American actress Anne Hathaway stars as the ...

''. For her work adapting the novels ''

Poppy Shakespeare ''Poppy Shakespeare'' is a 2006 British novel and 2008 Channel 4 film about mental illness by Clare Allan. It tells the story of day patients at a mental health hospital. The central characters are Poppy Shakespeare, a new patient, and "N", a lo ...

'' and '' Small Island'' for television, Williams received two

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The u ...

Award nominations.

Career

In 1992 Williams produced a series of documentary films for the BBC and Showtime USA '' Funny Business'', which starred

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles in the sitcoms ''Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and in the film series '' Johnny English'' (2003– ...

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

Roseanne Barr Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952), also known mononymously as Roseanne, is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom ''Roseanne'' (19 ...

and

Bill Hicks William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian and satirist. His material— encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy— was controversial and ofte ...

. Williams worked as a co-producer in the film '' Up on the Roof'' in 1997, and the following year was a producer for the 1998 television film ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' starring Paul Merton. She also produced the wildlife documentary 'Operation Lemur" starring John Cleese, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA award. The first authorial credit of Williams was the 2005 ITV television production '' Wallis & Edward'', starring Joely Richardson. Williams then wrote ''The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton'' for BBC2, which came out in 2006. After reading in 2004 '' Becoming Jane Austen'', a 2003 biography by

Jon Hunter Spence Jon Hunter Spence (July 30, 1945 – June 20, 2011) was an American Jane Austen scholar. His 2003 biography, '' Becoming Jane Austen'', was adapted into a feature film starring Anne Hathaway in 2007. Education Spence received a BA in English lit ...

, Williams approached

Ecosse Films Ecosse Films is a British film and television production company based in London. Ecosse Films produces programs for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Showtime, Sky Atlantic, Starz Channel and WGBH. History Ecosse Films was founded in November 1988 by D ...

about the possibility of adapting it into a film about Austen's early life. The resulting film, ''

'', starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy was released in 2007. Williams was the screenwriter for the 2007

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

, '' Sinking of the Lusitania: Terror at Sea''. The following year, Williams adapted the novel ''

'' starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Naomie Harris for Channel Four television. ''

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 ...

'' called her script an example of "good art," and she received a nomination for Best Television Short-Form Drama at the 2009

Awards. In 2009, Williams co-wrote the two-part television drama based on Andrea Levy's novel '' Small Island''. It also received a nomination for Best Television Short-Form Drama, this time at the 2010 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards. Williams adapted a novel by

Sophie Hannah Sophie Hannah (born ) is a British poet and novelist. Biography Hannah was born in Manchester, England; her mother is the author Adèle Geras. She attended Beaver Road Primary School in Didsbury and the University of Manchester. From 1997 to ...

into the 2012 two-part series ''Case Sensitive'', starring

Olivia Williams Olivia Haigh Williams (born 26 July 1968) is a British actress who appears in British and American films and television. Williams studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakespeare ...

. In 2018 Williams wrote the three-part BBC TV series ''The Long Song'', based on the novel by

Andrea Levy Andrea Levy (7 March 1956 – 14 February 2019) was an English author best known for the novels '' Small Island'' (2004) and '' The Long Song'' (2010). She was born in London to Jamaican parents, and her work explores topics related to Britis ...

, starring

Tamara Lawrance Tamara Naomi Lawrance (born 1994)Bowie-Sell, Daisy ''WhatsOnStage''. 14 February 2017. is a British actress. She is known for her performances as Prince Harry's republican girlfriend in the 2017 BBC television film ''King Charles III'', and as ...

Hayley Atwell Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is an English and American actress. After appearing in various West End productions, Atwell gained popularity for her roles in period dramas, appearing in the films ''Brideshead Revisited'' (2008), '' ...

and Sir

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British Jamaicans, British-Jamaican comedian, actor and writer. He gained success as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ' ...

. In 2019 she wrote a four-part original drama series 'Flesh and Blood' for ITV starring Imelda Staunton, Francesca Annis, Russell Tovey and Stephen Rea, broadcast in February 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Sarah British women screenwriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people)