Ralph and Katie: Co-writers Announced

The creator and lead writer of ‘Ralph and Katie’, Peter Bowker (The A Word; Marvellous; World On Fire), has today revealed the writers that will work alongside him on the new BBC One series, which focuses on Ralph (Leon Harrop) and Katie (Sarah Gordy), the well-loved characters from The A Word.

Co-produced for BBC One by ITV Studios and Keshet Productions in association with Tiger Aspect, ‘Ralph and Katie’ (6 x 30’) tells the continuing story of Ralph (Leon Harrop) and Katie (Sarah Gordy), an inspirational and loving young couple who are embarking on the biggest adventure of their lives. Ralph and Katie have just had the wedding of the year… so what happens next? ‘Ralph and Katie’ tracks their first year of married life, with each 30 minute episode featuring a different story focusing on the domestic challenges faced by the newlyweds – challenges faced by all newlyweds, but with the added fact that they have Down’s syndrome.

The new and emerging disabled writers, who have all been chosen in partnership with BBC Writersroom, are:

Amy Trigg is an actor and writer from Essex. She is currently part of the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course 2021, BBC Drama Room 2020/21 and BBC Writers Access Group 2020/21. She was recently part of the Royal Court Introduction to Playwriting Group 2020/21. Amy’s essay ‘An Ode to Improv (and Poehler and Fey)’ features in the book ‘Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies)’. Amy’s first full length play 'Reasons You Should(n't) Love Me’ was joint winner of the inaugural Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2020 (Ellie Keel Productions and Paines Plough).

Annalisa Dinnella is a writer for film, TV and radio. Her original thriller series THE BRIGHTNESS is in development with Euston Films for Channel 4 and her comedy drama EYEBALLS is in development with Two Rivers Media. She has written for DOCTORS (BBC One) and THE BREAK (BBC Three). Annalisa is an alumnus of Channel 4's 4Screenwriting 2020 as well as BBC Writersroom's Writers Access Group 2019. In radio, Annalisa's 2019 BBC Radio 4 play SICK (a vom com) starred Alison Steadman and Cariad Lloyd. The same year, her monologue THE DEAD DAD SHOW was commissioned for Radio 3 as part of their Music Monologues series.

Genevieve Barr is a screenwriter and actor. In 2020, she won the coveted Red Planet Prize with her pitch for a complex legal drama which she is currently developing with Red Planet Pictures/ITV. Her first produced credit, THUNDERBOX premiered last year as part of the CripTales series for BBC Four/BBC America. Genevieve is writing scripts with Eleven/Channel 4 and The Forge/BBC. In addition to these solo ventures, she is co-writing two projects with Jack Thorne: a US feature for Jonathan King (Spotlight, Roma) and a greenlit factual drama for Dragonfly/BBC Two about the Disability Act.

Tom Wentworth is a playwright, journalist and screenwriter whose recent work includes THE REAL DEAL (part of the CripTales series for BBC Four/BBC America), BURKE AND HARE (Watermill Theatre/Jermyn Street Theatre), BULLY (Wales Millennium Centre) and WINDY OLD FOSSILS (Pentabus Theatre Young Writers Festival). He has recently been a part of BBC Writersroom’s London Voices and Writers' Access Group.

Lizzie Watson was selected for the BBC Writersroom Writers Access Group 2020/21, and is currently developing a number of projects for television. She was awarded a full Excellence scholarship by the University of Leeds, and graduated with Distinction from the MA Writing for Performance and Publication programme last year. She is also part of the editorial team at CORONATION STREET.

Peter Bowker said: "It is genuinely exciting to be collaborating with these five writers who have already written startlingly new and engaging work. We have already started to work together to build the series and the one thing that is clear to me is that I am going to have to up my game!”

Filming will commence later this year. ‘Ralph and Katie’ will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Find out more about BBC Writersroom's Writers' Access Group