Early life

Terry Cafolla was born in Armagh

Armagh

Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...

 in 1969. He left Armagh to study at Queen's University, where he completed a degree in Philosophy and Russian studies before subsequently obtaining an MA in Poetry. After leaving college, following a short spell on a media-training course, Cafolla secured a one-year contract with a Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 film collective. Cafolla himself cites the fact that both poetry and American TV drama had a large influence over him in his adolescence, despite the fact that "TV never seemed an option for somebody from Armagh".

Career

His first television drama Holy Cross (2003) examined the emotive events which occurred on Belfast’s Ardoyne Road in 2001 and signalled the emergence of a television writer of skill and sensitivity. This first foray into television drama earned Cafolla a BAFTA nomination for best new Drama, and a Golden FIPA award for best screenplay. Cafolla has since contributed to the TV drama Messiah

Messiah (TV series)

Messiah is a British television drama series, broadcast on the BBC One network and produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland, although the series itself is set in England. Made up of a series of occasional serials, the first, with two parts subtitled The First Killings & The Reckoning, was...

and has written episodes for both series of Law & Order: UK, a British adaptation of the long-running US crime series. Other notable work includes a drama-documentary on the life of George Best

George Best

George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...

, and an episode of the TV fantasy series, Camelot

Camelot (TV series)

Camelot is a historical-fantasy-drama television series which premiered on April 1, 2011. It was co-produced by the Starz cable network and GK-TV which began production during the summer of 2010...

.

External links