"...coming this Winter to BBC One: World War Three, 1980s melancholy and Wham!"

detail of the secret nuclear bunker

map of the uk from the secret nuclear bunker

training manual: preparation for the end of the world

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transmission codes

dead technology deep beneath the essex countryside

Bungalow in Essex

"....Lot 254 is a VIMEO Staff Pick"

As recently endorsed by the director of  'the Exorcist' and 'the French Connection' (I know, right?), my long-time collaborator Toby Meakins' award-winning, festival slaughtering, nerve-shredding short film 'Lot 254' is now a VIMEO Staff Pick.

Although the short was developed from an idea of mine, Toby wrote (and, as usual, directed) this one all by himself and I am so proud to have even the tiniest connection to it. So much so that I insisted we make a new short together right after seeing it ('Breathe', part of the wonderful BFI Gothic season and playing festivals near you throughout this year, folks).

Please donate two and a half minutes of your life to this mini masterclass in suspense and terror. You won't regret it.

Watch 'Lot 254', VIMEO Staff Pick. 

"....a Ghost Story for the New Year"

We're thrilled to announce that our ghost story 'Breathe' (in which two boys encounter an apparition that can only be seen when you hold your breath) has been selected for the BFI Gothic season, a major celebration of horror across film and TV.

We're very excited to be a part of BFI Gothic as it features several works that are dear to our hearts, not least Jack Clayton's astonishing 1961 masterpiece 'the Innocents' which inspired 'Breathe' in the first place.

We're screening at BFI Southbank on January 14th 2014 from 8.30pm and you can buy tickets on the BFI website. More information about BFI Gothic can be found on this page.

Hope to see you there and look out for news on our feature film adaptation of 'Breathe' in the New Year.

Until then Merry Christmas....

********** UPDATE: THE SCREENING HAS NOW SOLD OUT!!! ********

"....Breathe premieres at FrightFest in August!"

Jack North and Josef Altin in 'Breathe'

'Breathe' is a feature film project I've been developing with my regular collaborator Toby Meakins.

A ghost story in the M.R. James and Algernon Blackwood tradition, 'Breathe' is about a mysterious girl who only appears when you hold your breath.  

As part of our preparation for the feature, we made a short film 'proof of concept' earlier this year. Our  feature involves a unique take on the mechanics of a haunting so we wanted to see how this might work on screen. We were lucky enough to attract the brilliant Josef Altin ('Game of Thrones', 'Les Miserables' and many more) together with exciting new talents Jack North and Orion Ben.

We're very pleased with the results of our little experiment and are absolutely delighted that 'Breathe' has been selected to premiere at this year's FrightFest on Sunday August 25 2013 at 15.15!

You can buy tickets for the screening on the FrightFest website.

Both Toby and I will be there, so if you're around, please come and say hello!

"....Happy New Year!"

Recce shot from "New Tricks: the Rock" (courtesy of our director Brian Grant!)

".....I'm remembering Fables of Forgotten Things."

Paul McGann as "Clarence" and Louise Dumayne as "Eldritch" in "Fables of Forgotten Things"

Four years ago, a little pilot that we shot for very little money and in very little time finally made a public appearance in the graveyard slot on BBC HD.

A LOT has happened since then. I've put on even more weight, quit smoking, started smoking, quit again, worked on all kinds of shows with much bigger...well, with budgets, and I've evolved from a baby writer into an adolescent. Or at least a toddler who knows a couple of swearwords.

I look back at "Fables of Forgotten Things" and see a million things I'd do differently - even when you take the constraints we were under into account. It's too slow. No, really. It's sloooooooowww x 1,000,000. It relies on voiceover which = SATANISM. Some of the dialogue clunks like Marley's chain. And there are evident traces of the trauma I suffered as a four year-old when I caught ten minutes of that Sapphire and Steele episode about the blank-faced man in the top hat:

Would you follow this man in the dead of night?

But I'm still astonished and inspired by what its brilliant director was able to achieve in just four days at one location. I can't believe how kind, generous and gracious our lead Paul McGann was throughout filming. I'm thrilled to have been part of a project that still feels so dark and distinctive. I'm dead bloody proud of the last four lines of dialogue. And there's something about the tone of the whole piece that's truthful to who I am, how I feel and what I want from all this. Truthfulness is, I think, the most precious quality in all stories.

While it's still available (and while the site still exists!), please take the time to check out Fables of Forgotten Things on the soon-to-be-gone BBC Film Network.