Paul Wilmshurst is a British television director. He has worked on five seasons of the

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent net ...

action-adventure series ''Strike Back'' and directed on the first series of

David S. Goyer David Samuel Goyer (born December 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for writing the screenplays for several superhero films, including ''Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (film), Nick Fury: Agent ...

's historical fantasy series ''

Da Vinci's Demons ''Da Vinci's Demons'' is a historical fantasy drama series that presents a fictional account of Leonardo da Vinci's early life. The series was conceived by David S. Goyer and stars Tom Riley in the title role. It was developed and produced in ...

'' for

StarZ Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

and

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ser ...

. He has received an

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and S ...

and two BAFTA nominations.

Education

He attended

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Histo ...

, studied English at

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities. In 1958, a trust was establish ...

and took a post-graduate course in journalism at

City University, London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

Career

After graduating, Wilmshurst started working in news and current affairs, then worked for a number of years as a researcher and director in formatted factual programmes, before persuading Channel 4 to send him to Las Vegas to make an authored documentary about a mafia lawyer. ''

Mob Law Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

'' was joint runner-up for the

Joris Ivens Award The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film, documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold mor ...

at IDFA and won awards at the Las Vegas and San Francisco film festivals. He went on to make feature documentaries collaborating with novelist

Luke Rhinehart George Powers Cockcroft (November 15, 1932 – November 6, 2020), widely known by the pen name Luke Rhinehart, was an American novelist, screenwriter, and nonfiction writer. He is best known for his 1971 novel ''The Dice Man,'' the story of a psyc ...

and comedian

Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), professionally known as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...

, before directing two separate year-long, three-part series for Channel 4: '' White Tribe'' (with

Darcus Howe Leighton Rhett Radford "Darcus" Howe (26 February 1943 – 1 April 2017)"Civil ...

) and ''The Gambler'' (with

Jonathan Rendall Jonathan Rendall (11 June 1964 – c. 23 January 2013) was a British writer. He won the Somerset Maugham Award. Life Rendall was born in Oxford and adopted as a baby. He lived his childhood in Ashtead, Surrey and much of his teenage years in Gr ...

). He then wrote and directed a handful of dramadocs: about cocaine dealing; pseudocide; the construction of the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

; alcoholism in the workplace; and being kidnapped by the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...

in Cambodia, telling the story of

Chris Moon Christopher Moon, better known as Chris Moon, is an American music producer, recording engineer and songwriter of British origin. He is best known for discovering Prince, helping him create his artistic name and style, and co-writing his early ...

. Wilmshurst also wrote, produced and directed the 90-minute BBC dramatised documentary ''Hiroshima'' - shown in over 30 countries on the 60th anniversary of the bombing - which won an

International Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

for Best Documentary and a BAFTA for Best Visual Effects, shared between

Gareth Edwards Sir Gareth Owen Edwards CBE (born 12 July 1947) is a Welsh former rugby union player who played scrum-half and has been described by the BBC as "arguably the greatest player ever to don a Welsh jersey". In 2003, in a poll of international ru ...

Mike Tucker Michael Tucker may refer to: *Michael Tucker (actor) (born 1945), (''L.A. Law'' and ''Hill Street Blues'') *Michael Tucker (baseball) (born 1971), Major League Baseball outfielder * Michael Tucker (basketball) (1954–2012), Australian Olympic baske ...

and Red Vision. In November 2008 actress

Lucy Cohu Lucy Ann Cohu (born 2 October 1970) is an English stage and film actress, known for portraying Princess Margaret in ''The Queen's Sister'', Evelyn Brogan in ''Cape Wrath'' and Alice Carter in ''Torchwood'': ''Children of Earth''. Background Lu ...

won an

international Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

award for Best Actress for her role in the true-life

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

''Forgiven''. The drama was well reviewed at the time and was later listed as one of the 50 Best Television Programmes of the Decade in ''The Times'': "32: Forgiven (2006) It is easy to condemn child abuse. It is much harder to try to understand it, to engage with the abuser and stop it from happening. Paul Wilmshurst’s harrowing drama with Lucy Cohu showed unbelievable courage." He also wrote and directed the CBBC miniseries ''Runaway'', produced and directed the BAFTA-nominated children's series ''Combat Kids'', as well as directing episodes of long-running crime series '' Law & Order: UK'', ''

Silent Witness ''Silent Witness'' is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC, which focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in 1996, the series was created by Nigel McC ...

'' and ''

Trial & Retribution ''Trial & Retribution'' is a feature-length ITV police procedural television drama series that first aired on 19 October 1997. Written and devised by Lynda La Plante as a follow-on from her successful television series ''Prime Suspect'', each ep ...

''.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

Profile page with agent Curtis Brown

Personal website

IMDB page {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmshurst, Paul 1961 births Living people English television directors Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge