Amanda Coe (born 1965) is an English screenwriter and novelist.

Early life

Coe was born in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

in 1965.

Anita Sethi Anita Sethi is a British journalist and writer, who was born in Manchester, England. Sethi has written for ''The Guardian,'' ''The Observer,'' ''The Sunday Times,'' ''The Independent,'' the ''New Statesman,'' ''Granta,'' and ''The Times Literary ...

Amanda Coe: ‘The older I get, the more confident I am about exploring class in my writing’
The Guardian, 23 November 2014. She gained an MA in English from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

.Amanda Coe Biography
United Agents

Career

Coe's scriptwriting began in the 1990s, working on ''Dangerfield'', ''The Vet'', the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

series ''As If'', and episodes of '' Shameless''. '' Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story'' (2008) was Coe's version of the battle between the 'Clean Up' TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse and

Hugh Greene Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (15 November 1910 – 19 February 1987) was a British television executive and journalist. He was director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969. After working for newspapers in the 1930s, Greene spent most of his later ...

, then Director General of the BBC. Coe was also due to write an episode of '' Doctor Who'' for Russel T. Davies, but it fell through. In 2009, she wrote the BBC 4 feature ''Margot''. She subsequently won a BAFTA in 2013 for the BBC Four television adaptation of

John Braine John Gerard Braine (13 April 1922 – 28 October 1986) was an English novelist. Braine is usually listed among the angry young men, a loosely defined group of English writers who emerged on the literary scene in the 1950s. Biography John Brain ...

's '' Room at the Top''. Coe wrote BBC's 2015 three-part series on the

Bloomsbury Set The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Stra ...

, ''

Life in Squares ''Life in Squares'' is a British television mini-series that was broadcast on BBC Two from 27 July to 10 August 2015. The title comes from Dorothy Parker's witticism that the Bloomsbury Group, whose lives it portrays, had "lived in squares, pain ...

'', a biopic about the influential group of artists including

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

. The series received positive reviews for risk-taking approach to a period drama. In 2017, she adapted ''

Apple Tree Yard ''Apple Tree Yard'' is a British television psychological thriller, adapted from the 2013 novel of the same name by Louise Doughty. The four-part series was commissioned in 2016 and the first episode had its premiere on BBC One on 22 January 2017 ...

'' for BBC One, from the 2013 thriller novel of the same name by Louise Doughty. In 2019, Coe wrote '' The Trial of Christine Keeler'', based on the

Profumo affair The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler be ...

in the 1960s. Coe explained her attraction to the material, saying, "I’m excited to have the opportunity to bring a fresh lens to a story that has become a powerful fable of our national identity. The astonishing story of Christine Keeler and the so-called

is the Salem Witch Trial meets O.J. Simpson – a perfect storm of gender, class, race and power that resonates into the world we’re living in today." In 2020, she wrote a new television adaptation of '' Black Narcissus'', based on the 1939 novel of the same name by

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was an English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus'' in 1947 and '' The River'' in ...

. The series featured one of the final performances of

Diana Rigg Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 193810 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series '' The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in ''On H ...

, who died in September 2020. Coe has published two novels, the latest, ''Getting Colder'', was published in November 2014 by Hachett UK.India Ross
‘Getting Colder’, by Amanda Coe
Financial Times, 14 November 2014. Her first novel, ''What They Do in the Dark'', was published in 2011 by

Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' ( genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-ā ...

. Both novels deal with the messy balance of public and private lives, taking deep looks into families as they deal with life-changing events. Coe says her writing often has comic tones and frequently explores issues of class. Childhood is also a common theme in both her novels and screenwriting.Carrie O'Grady
What They Do in the Dark by Amanda Coe – review
The Guardian, 29 July 2011.

Personal life

She lives in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

with her husband and two children. In addition to her original work as a writer, she serves as a screenwriting associate at the National Film and Television School.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coe, Amanda 1965 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford British women screenwriters English screenwriters English women novelists Writers from Yorkshire Writers from London