We were really pleased to work in partnership with Manchester Literature Festival 2012 for the fourth year running, to host a Q&A with award winning screenwriter Sally Wainwright, at theUniversity of Salford, MediaCity. One of the greatest television writers of her generation, Sally’s popularity was evident on the night with a room packed full of people wanting to hear about the breadth and diversity of her work and her writing experiences. You can see why she was selected by Russell T Davies as his favourite peer and he couldn’t have summed it up better when saying “her scripts can have wild flights of fancy, but the characters always stay grounded, salty, vivid, immediate”.
In conversation with Kate Rowland, BBC Creative Director, New Writing - Sally talks us through her work from the genesis of the hugely successful ‘At Home with the Braithwaite’s, her masterpiece Unforgiven through to the phenomenon that is Scott & Bailey. She discusses starting out as a writer and how she discovered her voice to how emerging writers can preserve their own. She gave insight into developing character and story, her writing process, the power and importance of research to craft an authentic story, and how her recent BBC Drama ‘Last Tango in Halifax’ is inspired by personal family experiences.
Watch highlights from the Q&A below:
Last Tango in Halifax is currently on Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC One - watch episodes back on iPlayer.
