| Paul Marquess | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 June 1964 (age 47)[1] Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Ethnicity | White British |
| Occupation | TV Producer |
| Years active | since 1997 |
| Television | Hollyoaks The Bill Brookside Family Affairs Footballers' Wives |
Paul Marquess (born 23 June 1964) is a Northern Irish-born British television producer.
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His credits include Brookside, The Bill and Family Affairs. He also originated the idea for the series Footballers' Wives. Due to the nature of his input and effect on the series he works on, Marquess has often been labelled "The Axe Man" and "The Queen of Trash" by television critics.
In 2002, Marquess took over as executive producer of The Bill where he made many changes to the show's format and cast. The show became serialised and many veteran characters were axed. The show also became more focused on officer's private lives (often at the expense of their work) and became heavily reliant on sensationalist storylines such as murder, rape, paedophilia and incest.
In 2003, Marquess was promoted to Head of Drama at Talkback Thames and also became executive producer on the Channel 5 series Family Affairs. The series was axed during Marquess' time in the position in 2005. Also during this time, he created and executive produced The Bill spin-off series MIT: Murder Investigation Team, which was panned by critics for being a blatant copy of the American series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and was a ratings failure. After its first run of eight episodes, it was taken off the air for two years, after which it returned for four 90 minute episodes in 2005. Ratings did not improve and the series was axed.
In July 2005, with both Family Affairs and M.I.T. having been cancelled, Marquess left Talkback Thames to work for Endemol UK (his replacement at Thames was Jonathan Young who made The Bill more focused on crime storylines). Endemol, who were known mainly for low budget game shows and reality television programming, were attempting to branch out into mainstream television drama. To this end, they set up a new drama production arm of the company, "Showrunner", to be run by Marquess. Showrunner was 75% owned by Endemol and 25% by Marquess himself. However, the project was a failure and saw no production output.
It was announced on 15 January 2010 that Marquess would succeed Lucy Allan as the series producer of the long-running Channel 4 teen soap opera Hollyoaks.[2] His first episode was broadcast on 5 July 2010. In February 2010 he axed three characters, Josh Ashworth (Sonny Flood), Suzanne Ashworth (Suzanne Hall) and Neville Ashworth (Jim Millea)[3] as well as replacing three of the soap's leading producers including, Henry Swindell, Caroline Roby and Rachel Hall who were replaced by Trina Fraser and Claire Fryer.[4] In the same month it was announced that former Emmerdale actress Sheree Murphy would join the cast as Eva Strong, the biological mother of Anita Roy (Saira Choudhry). This was his first signing since becoming series producer.[5] In March he axed a further eleven characters, including Sasha Valentine (Nathalie Emmanuel), Lauren Valentine (Dominique Jackson), Leo Valentine (Brian Bovell), Zak Ramsey (Kent Riley), Spencer Gray (Darren John Langford), Archie Carpenter (Stephen Beard), Jake Dean (Kevin Sacre), Loretta Jones (Melissa Walton), Barry Newton (Nico Mirallegro), Dave Colburn (Elliot James Langridge) and Des Townsend (Kris Deedigan).[6] It was also revealed that Marquess would introduce a new family to the soap.[7] In the same month it was announced Marquess would reintroduce Lee Hunter (Alex Carter).[8] It was also announced that Footballers Wives actress Phina Oruche would join the cast as the mother of the soap's new four-member mixed race family.[9]
In April 2010, it was announced that Marquess would introduce a raft of new characters to the serial as part of its major revamp. The characters announced were, the Costello family consisting of mother Heidi (Kim Tiddy), father Carl (Paul Opacic), and sons Riley (Rob Norbury) and Seth (Miles Higson), the Sharpe family consisting of mother Gabby (Phina Oruche), father Phil (Andonis Anthony), son Taylor (Shaun Blackstock) and daughter Amber (Lydia Lloyd-Henry). As well as Heidi's cousin Mitzeee Minniver (Rachel Shenton).[10] It was later announced that Marquess would introduce a new family member for established family the McQueen's.[11]
It was announced in April that Channel 4 had commissioned a third series of Hollyoaks late night spin-off Hollyoaks Later and that the series would be headed up by Marquess. Confirmed regular characters slated to be involved were also revealed, Mercedes (Jennifer Metcalfe) and Malachy Fisher (Glen Wallace), Michaela (Hollie-Jay Bowes) and Theresa McQueen (Jorgie Porter) as well as newcomers Carl, Riley and Seth Costello and Mitzeee.[12] In June it was announced UFC fighter Michael Bisping had been cast in Hollyoaks Later as an underworld gangster called Nathan.[13] In the same month it was revealed that Hollie-Jay Bowes who plays Michaela McQueen had been sacked by Marquess due to her behaviour as well as being dropped from spin-off Hollyoaks Later.[14]
In early June it was announced that Marquess would introduce Kevin Smith (Cameron Crighton) who would befriend Elliot Bevan (Garnon Davies), in a new sci-fi alien storyline.[15] In April, Marquess announced the introduction of a third family to the soap.[16] In June the family were unveiled as the O'Connors consisting of stepmother Diane (Alexandra Fletcher), father Rob (Gary Cargill), daughter Sinead (Stephanie Davis) and son Finn (Connor Wilkinson).[17] In the same month Marquess revealed the introduction of a new title sequence and theme tune.[18] Marquess also announced more new cast later in the month, including Cheryl Brady's (Bronagh Waugh) half-brother Brenden Brady (Emmett J. Scanlan), Cheryl's best friend Lynsey Nolan (Karen Hassan) who previously appeared in the first series of spin-off Hollyoaks Later and McQueen cousin Bart McQueen (Jonny Clarke).[19] In July it was announced Marquess would introduce Seth Costello's twin Jasmine (Victoria Atkin).[20] In the same month it was announced that he would reintroduce India Longford's (Beth Kingston) sister Texas Longford (Bianca Hendrickse-Spendlove) who previously appeared in the soap for a short stint in May 2010.[21] It was also announced that Marquess would introduce three new students to the series, consisting of Jamil (Sikander Malik), Doug (PJ Brennan) and Leanne (Jessica Forrest) who would also appear in new internet spin-off Hollyoaks Freshers.[22] Due to the temporary exit of Cindy Hutchinson (Stephanie Waring) because of Waring's impending maternity leave, it was announced that Marquess would introduce Alistair Longford (Terence Harvey) the grandfather of India and Texas Longford who would develop a romance with Cindy.[23]
It was announced in January 2011 that Marquess would leave his role as series producer, to be succeeded by Hollyoaks production team member Gareth Philips, but would remain working with Lime Pictures.[24]
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by Lucy Allan |
Series producer of Hollyoaks 2010–11 |
Succeeded by Gareth Philips |
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