Paul Michael Davies is an Australian television script writer, novelist and playwright, who has worked on a number of

Crawford Crawford may refer to: Places Canada * Crawford Bay Airport, British Columbia * Crawford Lake Conservation Area, Ontario United Kingdom * Crawford, Lancashire, a small village near Rainford, Merseyside, England * Crawford, South Lanarkshire, a ...

television series. He has written several plays for the TheatreWorks theatre company, a leader in staging situation theatre.

Television work

Paul Michael Davies was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales in 1949. He took his BA with Honours from the University of Queensland and his MA in 1973. He began tutoring at

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

before taking a script writing role at Crawford Television Productions in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropol ...

in 1974. He was a script editor and writer on the police television series,

Homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

(1974-1975), before moving to work on the Crawford series The Box (1975-1976) and The Sullivans (1976-1978). He also contributed to scripts for Against the Wind (1978),

Skyways Skyways may refer to: *Skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very ...

(1979), Rafferty's Rules (1985), Blue Heelers (1997),

Pacific Drive ''Pacific Drive'' is an Australian television series made by Village Roadshow in association with New World International for the Nine Network which screened for 390 episodes from 29 January 1996 to December 1997, when it concluded it was show ...

(1996), Stingers (1998-2003), Something in the Air (1999-2001 and

Headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

(2005).

Film work

Davies moved into film and theatre work, working as a writer, actor and director. He co-wrote and directed the documentary drama film Exits (1980) which was taught on the history syllabus of selected high schools. He co wrote

Niel Lynne ''Niel Lynne'' (also known as ''Best Enemies'') is a 1985 Australian film about a young man during the 1960s.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p111 Plot Niel Lynne (Paul Williams) is a romantic ...

(1985) with David Baker. He wrote and performed in four John Hughes short or documentary films - ''November Eleven'' (1979), ''Traps'' (1985), ''All That Is Solid'' (1988), and ''One Way Street'' (1990). He has also co-written ''Red Ted and the Great Depression'' (1994) and ''Holy Rollers'' (2000),

Theatre work

Davies became a founding member, writer and performer of the TheatreWorks ensemble in Melbourne. He wrote several “location theatre” plays for TheatreWorks - ''Storming Mont Albert by Tram'' (1982) which was performed on trams in Melbourne, Adelaide and around the world for a number of years with great success. He also wrote ''Breaking Up in Balwyn'' (1983) which was staged on a riverboat, ''Living Rooms'' (1986), which was staged in an historic mansion and ''Full House/No Vacancies'' (1989) which was staged in a boarding house. ''On Shifting Sandshoes'' was staged in 1988. He published his first novel, ''33 Postcards from Heaven'' in 2004. Davies has taught film and scriptwriting at a number of Australian universities and has been published in drama and industry journals and magazines. He completed his PhD at the University of Queensland in 2013 with a thesis entitled ''Really Moving Drama, a study of TheatreWorks’ ‘location plays''’. 49 boxes of his papers, scripts and other materials are held in the University of Queensland Fryer Library.

Awards

* ''Exits'' (1980) – nominated for a Greater Union Award at the Sydney Film Festival * ''Something in the Air'' - ''Return of the Prodigal'' (episode) – Australian Writers Guild Award (2000) * ''Storming Mont Albert by Tram'' – Australian Writer's Guild Award (1988) * ''On Shifting Sands (1988)'' – Australian Writer's Guild Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Paul 1949 births Living people Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian television writers Australian male novelists 20th-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian novelists Australian male television writers