Christopher William Hill is a British playwright and children's

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

Early life

Christopher William Hill was born in

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

Career

His series of children's novels, ''Tales From Schwartzgarten'', is published by

Orchard Books Grolier was one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including ''The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), ''The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (1945), ''Acade ...

, and comprises ''Osbert The Avenger'' (2012), ''The Woebegone Twins'' (2013), ''The Lily-Livered Prince'' (2014) and ''Marius And The Band Of Blood'' (2015). His children's novel, ''What Manor Of Murder?'' was published in 2018 by Orchard Books. ''Osbert The Avenger'' won th
East Sussex Children's Book Award
in 2014, and was shortlisted for th
Northern Ireland Book Award
(2013–14) and th
Leeds Book Award
(2014). His plays for the National Theatre'
Connections
festival are ''Multiplex'' and ''Heartbreak Beautiful''. His play ''Mister Holgado'' was co-winner of Best Show for Children and Young People at th
UK Theatre Awards
in 2013 and is published by

Oberon Books Oberon Books is a London-based independent publisher of drama texts and books on theatre. The company publishes around 100 titles per year, many of them plays by new writers. In addition, the list contains a range of titles on theatre studies, act ...

. His plays for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

include ''Killing Maestros'' (2003), starring

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...

and

Henry Goodman Henry Goodman (born 23 April 1950) is a RADA trained British actor. He has appeared on television and radio, in film and in the theatre. Early life He attended the Central Foundation Boys' School and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, L ...

, which won the inaugural

Tinniswood Award The Tinniswood Award is a British annual award for original radio drama. It is named in memory of Peter Tinniswood, who died in 2003, and was established by the Society of Authors and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain; it is sponsored by the A ...

for the best original audio drama script in 2004, ''Love Me, Liberace'' (2004), starring Henry Goodman and

Frances Barber Frances Barber (née Brookes, born 13 May 1958) is an English actress. She received Olivier Award nominations for her work in the plays '' Camille'' (1985), and ''Uncle Vanya'' (1997). Her film appearances include three collaborations with Gar ...

, ''Accolades'' (2007), starring

Ian Richardson Ian William Richardson (7 April 19349 February 2007) was a Scottish actor. He portrayed the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's '' House of Cards'' (1990–1995) television trilogy. Richardson was also a leading S ...

as the British author and historian A. L. Rowse, ''Hush! Hush! Whisper Who Dares!'' (2013), starring

Oliver Ford Davies Oliver Robert Ford Davies (born 12 August 1939) is an English actor and writer, best known for his extensive theatre work, and to a broader audience for his role as Sio Bibble in ''Star Wars'' Episodes I to III. He is also known for his role ...

as the British illustrator

E H Shepard Ernest Howard Shepard OBE Military Cross, MC (10 December 1879 – 24 March 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of the Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in ''Th ...

, and three plays about the writer and architectural historian

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extensi ...

, ''Sometimes Into The Arms Of God'', ''The Unending Battle'' and ''What England Owes''. His comedies for

include two series of '' Tomorrow, Today!'' (2006-2008), ''Says On The Tin'' (2008), and two series of ''On The Rocks'' (2013-2015). His comedy-drama series, ''Clutch, Throttle, Brake'' (2017) for the

15 Minute Drama ''15 Minute Drama'', previously known as ''Woman's Hour Drama'', was a BBC Radio 4 Arts and Drama production strand that was broadcast between 1998 and 2021. It consisted of 15-minute episodes, broadcast every weekday 10:45–11:00 am (i.e. ...

slot in

's ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

'' programme, starred Bill Paterson,

Samantha Spiro Samantha Spiro (born 20 June 1968) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for portraying Barbara Windsor in the stage play ''Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick'' and the television films ''Cor, Blimey!'' and ''Babs'', DI Vivien Frie ...

and

Alison Steadman Alison Steadman (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She received the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film '' Life Is Sweet'' and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Ma ...

. He has contributed to

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

and he is a regular tutor at the

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Cumper is Ch ...

Selected works

Plays

*''Lam'' (Northcott Theatre, Exeter, 1999) *''Blood Red, Saffron Yellow'' (Plymouth Theatre Royal, 2001) *''Inglorious Technicolour'' (

Stephen Joseph Theatre The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain. In 1955, Joseph established a tiny theatre in the round on the f ...

, 2006) *''Song Of The Western Men'' (

Minerva Theatre, Chichester The Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating, at full capacity, 310. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989.Unicorn Theatre The Unicorn Theatre is a children's theatre in the London Borough of Southwark, in England. It is a custom-built, RIBA Award–winning building on Tooley Street, which opened in 2005. The theatre was designed by Keith Williams, built by Arup an ...

, 2013) *''Pinocchio'' ( The Dukes, Lancaster, 2016) *''Clockwork Canaries'' (Plymouth Theatre Royal, 2018)

Radio drama

*''Killing Maestros'' (

, 2003) *''Love Me, Liberace'' (BBC Radio 4, 2004) *''Accolades'' (BBC Radio 4, 2007) *''Angarrack'' (BBC Radio 4, 2012) *''Hush! Hush! Whisper Who Dares!'' (BBC Radio 4, 2013) *''Sometimes Into The Arms Of God'' (BBC Radio 4, 2013) *''The Unending Battle'' (BBC Radio 4, 2013) *''What England Owes'' (BBC Radio 4, 2013) *''Clutch, Throttle, Brake'' (BBC Radio 4, 2017)

Radio comedy series

*'' Tomorrow, Today!'' (BBC Radio 4, 2006-2008) *''Says On The Tin'' (BBC Radio 4, (2008) *''On The Rocks'' (BBC Radio 4, (2013-2015)

Children's books

*''Osbert The Avenger'' (

, 2012) *'' The Woebegone Twins'' (Orchard Books, 2013) *''The Lily-Livered Prince'' (Orchard Books, 2014) *''Marius And The Band Of Blood'' (Orchard Books, 2015) *''What Manor Of Murder?'' (Orchard Books, 2018)

References

External links

Christopher William Hill official websiteTomorrow, Today!
at

British Comedy Guide British Comedy Guide or BCG (formerly the British Sitcom Guide or BSG) is a British website covering all forms of British comedy, across all media. At the time of writing, BCG has published guides to more than 7,000 individual British comedies ...

Says On The Tin
at

On The Rocks
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Christopher William 21st-century English male writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) English children's writers British male dramatists and playwrights British children's writers People from Truro