Jed Mercurio

Jed Mercurio (born 1966) is a British television writer-producer-director and novelist. He is reported to be one of the few British script-writers to work as a US-style showrunner.^[1] A former hospital physician and RAF officer,^[2] in December 2013, Mercurio was ranked among UK television's leading writers by TV-industry magazine Broadcast.^[3]

His chief works for television are the series Line of Duty, Bodies (based on his 2002 novel), The Grimleys and Cardiac Arrest.^[4] His books are Bodies (2002), Ascent (2007), American Adulterer (2009) and, for children, the Penguin Expedition (2003).^[5]

Biographical Information

Mercurio was born in Nelson, Lancashire but grew up in Cannock, Staffordshire.^[6] He graduated from the University of Birmingham Medical School in 1991 and practised as a hospital doctor.^[7] While still a medical student, he joined the Royal Air Force and underwent pilot training with the intention of specialising in aviation medicine.^[8] Instead, after replying to an advertisement placed in the British Medical Journal and despite negligible writing experience,^[7] Mercurio scripted the BBC medical drama Cardiac Arrest under the pseudonym John MacUre,^[9] after which he has continued a writing career under his own name.^[8]

Selected Works

Mercurio's writing debut, Cardiac Arrest, caused controversy due to its revisionist depiction of hospital life,^[10] though the series was twice nominated in the Best Original Drama category by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain^[11] and topped a poll of UK medical professionals as the most realistic medical drama of all time.^[12] He adapted his first novel, Bodies,^[13] into an award-winning television series:^[14] The Times ranked Bodies in "Shows of the Decade" and The Guardian placed it in "The Greatest TV Dramas of All Time."^[15] The series won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series, was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series and Mercurio was also twice nominated as Best Drama Writer by the Royal Television Society.^[16] His critically acclaimed second novel, Ascent,^[17] was ranked among 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read.^[18] Mercurio's current television series, Line of Duty, is BBC2's best-performing drama series in 10 years with over 4 million viewers^[19] and earned Mercurio his third nomination as Best Drama Writer by the Royal Television Society.^[20]

Filmography

• Cardiac Arrest (1994–96)
• The Grimleys (TV film) (1997)
• Invasion: Earth (1998)
• The Grimleys (TV series) (1999–2001)
• The Legend of the Tamworth Two (2004)
• Bodies (2004–2006)
• Frankenstein (2007)
• Strike Back (2010)
• Line of Duty (2012–)
• Critical (in production)^[21]

Bibliography

• Bodies (2002)
• The Penguin Expedition (2003)
• Ascent (2007)
• American Adulterer (2009)
• Ascent (graphic novel – with Wesley Robins) (2011)

Awards

• Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series 2005 (for Bodies)^[14]

References