Tony Jordan
Encyclopedia
Tony Jordan is a British
television
writer. He was listed as the number 1 television screen writer in the UK by Broadcast magazine (2008) and among British Broadcastings Top 20 in The Stage
(2009)., He currently resides in Hertfordshire, UK.
For many years, he was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One
soap opera
EastEnders
. Jordan had written for the programme since 1989, and is considered to be an 'elder statesman' of the show, for which he has written over 250 episodes .
and Ethel Skinner
; the "Sharongate
" storyline; and more recently Kat's
revelation to Zoe
that she was her mother, the Andy-Kat-Alfie
love triangle, and Dot
's monologue. He was the first writer to do EastEnders when it began airing three times a week, when the siege at The Queen Victoria
took place in 1994. He continued to work on EastEnders through a period which saw a reversal in its hitherto declining fortunes, with the programme winning the Most Popular Soap category at the National Television Awards
in 2005. He wrote the first two episodes (aired October 24 & 25 2005) for the return of the characters of Phil
and Grant Mitchell
, popular characters he had originally helped to create back in 1989.
While on staff at EastEnders Jordan undertook a number of freelance projects. In early 2004, he created hit BBC One con artist drama Hustle
. He also co-created the time travel
/ police drama Life on Mars
, which began in 2006.
His other credits include; Boon
(ITV), Minder
(ITV), Trainer
(BBC), Eldorado
(BBC), Thief Takers
(ITV), Where the Heart Is
(ITV), City Central (BBC), April Fool's Day (ITV), Can't Buy Me Love (ITV), Vanishing Man (ITV), Perfectly Frank (BBC) Sunburn
(BBC), HolbyBlue
(BBC), Moving Wallpaper
(ITV), Echo Beach
(ITV).
In January 2007 Jordan's EastEnders departure was announced as it was his plan to concentrate on running his own new production company, Red Planet Pictures, backed by leading independent producer Kudos Film & Television
. HolbyBlue
, a new BBC One police drama, spun off from the channel's successful medical drama Holby City
debuted in May 2007, quickly being recommissioned for a second run.
Red Planet Pictures projects include medical drama "Crash" for BBC Wales and Jordan's critically acclaimed version of the Nativity story, filmed in Morocco and aired in the UK this Christmas on BBC1.
He also created the shows of Moving Wallpaper
and Echo Beach for ITV. The shows were linked to each other, the latter being a soap opera and the former being a sitcom about the production of that soap opera.
In 2007, Jordan was honoured for his work on EastEnders at the British Soap Awards
with a "Special Achievement award". On 14 November 2007, it was announced that Jordan would be returning to EastEnders less than twelve months after quitting to write one final episode. Jordan subsequently wrote the script for Dot Branning
's single-handed episode
, broadcast on 31 January 2008 on BBC1.
In 2008 he worked on Hustle
and zombie drama Renaissance starring Kelly Brook and Alan Dale. As Head of Red Planet Pictures he is also creating new formats for the UK and US markets.
His latest work as a writer was a new BBC version of the Nativity
story starring Peter Capaldi
, broadcast in December 2010.http://www.rejesus.co.uk/post/blog/the_nativity_coming_to_the_bbc/ Jordan states he had always had a faith but it was during this work that he became convinced that Jesus who was born in this way is the Son of God and that the Nativity story is a 'true story' and a 'thing of beauty'.
Tony is currently working on scripts for "Legion" a dark thriller about one mans fight with the Devil, scripts for season eight of con drama "Hustle" in addition to a series of single plays entitled "Behind Closed Doors".
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
writer. He was listed as the number 1 television screen writer in the UK by Broadcast magazine (2008) and among British Broadcastings Top 20 in The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
(2009)., He currently resides in Hertfordshire, UK.
For many years, he was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
. Jordan had written for the programme since 1989, and is considered to be an 'elder statesman' of the show, for which he has written over 250 episodes .
Career
Beginning his career as a market trader, Jordan only began writing at the age of thirty-two. He joined Eastenders after sending a spec script to the BBC about market traders, with a covering letter saying he had been born and raised in the East End of London. The BBC turned down the spec script, but gave him a job on EastEnders because of his apparent life experience. Afraid of what would happen if the producers found out that he was from the north, Jordan kept up the pretence of being a Londoner for five years. He had left school with no qualifications. For his work in EastEnders, he is particularly known for creating the Slater family along with then producer, John Yorke. Amongst significant episodes he scripted are those featuring the deaths of Arthur FowlerArthur Fowler
Arthur George Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Bill Treacher.The father of the Fowler family, Arthur was essentially a good man, but he made some foolish choices and he always ended up paying dearly for them, also being bossed to the brink of insanity by...
and Ethel Skinner
Ethel Skinner
Ethel May Skinner is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Gretchen Franklin. Ethel Skinner also features in a 1988 EastEnders special, entitled Civvy Street, set on Albert Square during the Second World War, where the character is played by Alison...
; the "Sharongate
Sharongate
"Sharongate" is the term used for a storyline in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which reached its climax on 24 October 1994, attracting 25.3 million viewers. The plot was written by EastEnders scriptwriter, Tony Jordan. In the storyline, Sharon Mitchell confessed on tape that she had slept with...
" storyline; and more recently Kat's
Kat Moon
Kathleen "Kat" Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jessie Wallace. She was also played by Kate Peck in a flashback in 2001. She appeared in the show from September 2000 to November 2004, then returned in May 2005...
revelation to Zoe
Zoe Slater
Zoe Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Ryan. She made her first appearance on the 18 September 2000...
that she was her mother, the Andy-Kat-Alfie
Alfie Moon
Alfred William "Alfie" Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Shane Richie. He made his first appearance on 21 November 2002, and left on 25 December 2005...
love triangle, and Dot
Dot
- Typography :* Full stop, also called period in American English, used as a sentence terminator and as a decimal separator in numerals - Typography :* Full stop, also called period in American English, used as a sentence terminator and as a decimal separator (decimal point) in numerals -...
's monologue. He was the first writer to do EastEnders when it began airing three times a week, when the siege at The Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria is a fictional Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20.-Appearance and development:...
took place in 1994. He continued to work on EastEnders through a period which saw a reversal in its hitherto declining fortunes, with the programme winning the Most Popular Soap category at the National Television Awards
National Television Awards
The National Television Awards is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are voted on by the general public. Because of the way the awards are decided, winners are...
in 2005. He wrote the first two episodes (aired October 24 & 25 2005) for the return of the characters of Phil
Phil Mitchell
Philip James "Phil" Mitchell is a long-running fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden.Phil first arrived in Albert Square on 20 February 1990, and was soon joined by his brother, Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy...
and Grant Mitchell
Grant Mitchell (EastEnders)
Grant Anthony Mitchell is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, played by Ross Kemp. Grant first appeared in 1990, introduced by producer Michael Ferguson to revamp the show. Kemp remained until 1999 when he opted to leave...
, popular characters he had originally helped to create back in 1989.
While on staff at EastEnders Jordan undertook a number of freelance projects. In early 2004, he created hit BBC One con artist drama Hustle
Hustle (TV series)
Hustle is a British television drama series made by Kudos Film and Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan and first broadcast in 2004, the series follows a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended deceptions which require greater commitment, but...
. He also co-created the time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
/ police drama Life on Mars
Life on Mars (TV series)
Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....
, which began in 2006.
His other credits include; Boon
Boon (TV series)
Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV...
(ITV), Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
(ITV), Trainer
Trainer (TV series)
Trainer is a British television series transmitted by the BBC between 1991 and 1992.Filmed in and around the village of Compton near Newbury, the series is set in the world of horse racing. It starred Mark Greenstreet as Mike Hardy, an aspiring horse trainer keen to set up his own stables...
(BBC), Eldorado
Eldorado (TV series)
Eldorado was a British soap opera that ran for only one year, from 6 July 1992 to 9 July 1993. Set in Coín on the Costa Del Sol and based around the lives of British and European expats, the BBC hoped it would be as successful as EastEnders and replicate some of the sunshine and glamour of imported...
(BBC), Thief Takers
Thief Takers
Thief Takers was a police drama series made by Central Independent Television for the ITV network. The show depicted the work of a team in the Metropolitan Police Service's Flying Squad...
(ITV), Where the Heart Is
Where the Heart Is (1997 TV series)
Where the Heart Is is a British television drama series set in the fictional town Skelthwaite.First shown in 1997, it was created by Ashley Pharoah and Vicky Featherstone...
(ITV), City Central (BBC), April Fool's Day (ITV), Can't Buy Me Love (ITV), Vanishing Man (ITV), Perfectly Frank (BBC) Sunburn
Sunburn (TV series)
Sunburn is a British television series that followed the lives of a group of British holiday reps. It was broadcast on BBC One between 16 January 1999 and 1 May 2000, running for two series of six and eight episodes respectively. The first was set and filmed in Cyprus and the second in Algarve...
(BBC), HolbyBlue
HolbyBlue
HolbyBlue was a British police drama series that aired on BBC One from 2007 to 2008. Produced by the BBC, Red Planet Pictures and Kudos for BBC One, it is a spin-off of the successful BBC One medical drama Holby City, itself a spin-off of the long-running series Casualty.The first series was...
(BBC), Moving Wallpaper
Moving Wallpaper
Moving Wallpaper was a British satirical comedy-drama television series set in a TV production unit. It ran on ITV for two series in 2008–2009. The subject of the first series was the production of a soap called Echo Beach, each episode of which aired directly after the Moving Wallpaper episode...
(ITV), Echo Beach
Echo Beach (soap)
Echo Beach was a short-lived British teen-drama series that aired on ITV in 2008. Set in the fictional Cornish coastal town of Polnarren, it ran for twelve weekly episodes from 10 January to 21 March 2008...
(ITV).
In January 2007 Jordan's EastEnders departure was announced as it was his plan to concentrate on running his own new production company, Red Planet Pictures, backed by leading independent producer Kudos Film & Television
Kudos (production company)
Kudos Film and Television is a British independent film and television production company. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and its productions include Spooks , Hustle, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and M.I. High...
. HolbyBlue
HolbyBlue
HolbyBlue was a British police drama series that aired on BBC One from 2007 to 2008. Produced by the BBC, Red Planet Pictures and Kudos for BBC One, it is a spin-off of the successful BBC One medical drama Holby City, itself a spin-off of the long-running series Casualty.The first series was...
, a new BBC One police drama, spun off from the channel's successful medical drama Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
debuted in May 2007, quickly being recommissioned for a second run.
Red Planet Pictures projects include medical drama "Crash" for BBC Wales and Jordan's critically acclaimed version of the Nativity story, filmed in Morocco and aired in the UK this Christmas on BBC1.
He also created the shows of Moving Wallpaper
Moving Wallpaper
Moving Wallpaper was a British satirical comedy-drama television series set in a TV production unit. It ran on ITV for two series in 2008–2009. The subject of the first series was the production of a soap called Echo Beach, each episode of which aired directly after the Moving Wallpaper episode...
and Echo Beach for ITV. The shows were linked to each other, the latter being a soap opera and the former being a sitcom about the production of that soap opera.
In 2007, Jordan was honoured for his work on EastEnders at the British Soap Awards
British Soap Awards
The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to...
with a "Special Achievement award". On 14 November 2007, it was announced that Jordan would be returning to EastEnders less than twelve months after quitting to write one final episode. Jordan subsequently wrote the script for Dot Branning
Dot Branning
Dorothy "Dot" Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by June Brown since 1985. In a special episode entitled EastEnders: Dot's Story a young Dot was played by Tallulah Pitt-Brown in flashbacks. Dot first appeared in EastEnders in July 1985 as the mother of...
's single-handed episode
Pretty Baby....
"Pretty Baby...." is an episode of the British television soap opera EastEnders, broadcast on BBC One on 31 January 2008. It is the only EastEnders episode to feature just one character and the first of its kind in soap. It was written by Tony Jordan, directed by Clive Arnold and produced by...
, broadcast on 31 January 2008 on BBC1.
In 2008 he worked on Hustle
Hustle (TV series)
Hustle is a British television drama series made by Kudos Film and Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan and first broadcast in 2004, the series follows a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended deceptions which require greater commitment, but...
and zombie drama Renaissance starring Kelly Brook and Alan Dale. As Head of Red Planet Pictures he is also creating new formats for the UK and US markets.
His latest work as a writer was a new BBC version of the Nativity
Nativity of Jesus
The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
story starring Peter Capaldi
Peter Capaldi
Peter Dougan Capaldi is an Academy Award and BAFTA award winning Scottish actor and film director. In 1995, his short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film...
, broadcast in December 2010.http://www.rejesus.co.uk/post/blog/the_nativity_coming_to_the_bbc/ Jordan states he had always had a faith but it was during this work that he became convinced that Jesus who was born in this way is the Son of God and that the Nativity story is a 'true story' and a 'thing of beauty'.
Tony is currently working on scripts for "Legion" a dark thriller about one mans fight with the Devil, scripts for season eight of con drama "Hustle" in addition to a series of single plays entitled "Behind Closed Doors".
External links
- EastEnders website
- Tony Jordan profile at BBC WalesBBC WalesBBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...