Vinay Patel
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Vinay Patel (born 1986) is a British-Indian screenwriter and
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
. He is best known for writing the BBC drama ''
Murdered by My Father ''Murdered by My Father'' is a British drama television film written by Vinay Patel, directed by Bruce Goodison and produced by Toby Welch, and starring Adeel Akhtar and Kiran Sonia Sawar, that first aired on BBC One in March 2016. The drama te ...
''.


Career

Before writing, Patel worked as a corporate filmmaker and then a technician at the London-based Met Film School. In 2011, Patel graduated from the
Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...
with an MA in writing. In 2014, he wrote ''True Brits'', a play juxtaposing the news of the
London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, with the
7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...
. This led to his selection for the Bush/Kudos TV writing scheme and an original short commission for
BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...
. In 2018, he wrote ''An Adventure'', inspired by his grandparents, for the
Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a spa ...
. Patel contributed ''Death is a Many Headed Monster'' to the BAME essay anthology ''
The Good Immigrant ''The Good Immigrant'' is an anthology of twenty-one essays edited by Nikesh Shukla and first published by Unbound in the UK in 2016 after a crowd-funding campaign endorsed by celebrities. Written by British authors who identify as BAME (Black, A ...
''. In June 2018, Patel was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative. In 2022, it was announced the
Yard Theatre The Yard Theatre is a theatre and music venue in a converted warehouse in Hackney Wick in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It programmes theatre and performance, late-night music events, and manages two community centres where it runs work wi ...
would produce Patel's sci-fi re-imagining of ''
The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by ''Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition ...
'', directed by James Macdonald.


Television

In 2016, he wrote
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
’s honour killing drama ''Murdered By My Father''. It tells of an
honour killing An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...
of a British Asian Muslim teenage girl, Salma (played by Kiran Sonia Sawar), by her father Shahzad (
Adeel Akhtar Adeel Akhtar (born 18 September 1980) is a British actor. In 2017, he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his role in ''Murdered by My Father''. He was also nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his role o ...
). It was nominated for a
BAFTA TV Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...
for best single drama, and won the RTS Award for Best Single Drama. He has also written for the first series of ''
The Good Karma Hospital ''The Good Karma Hospital'' is a medical drama series produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for ITV about a disillusioned doctor, Ruby Walker, who travels to South India hoping to make a fresh start. It stars Amanda Redman, Amrita Acharia, Ja ...
'' and, in 2018, contributed the sixth episode of the eleventh series of ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'', '
Demons of the Punjab "Demons of the Punjab" is the sixth episode of the eleventh series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. It was written by Vinay Patel, directed by Jamie Childs, and first broadcast on BBC One on 11 November 2018. ...
', set during the
Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
. The episode received high praise from fans and critics alike, and was announced as a finalist (nominee) in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form for the 2019 Hugo Awards. At the Eastern Eye Arts, Theater, and Culture Awards, Patel won "Best Scriptwriter" for ''Demons of the Punjab''. Patel returned to ''Doctor Who'', co-writing the fifth episode, '
Fugitive of the Judoon "Fugitive of the Judoon" is the fifth episode of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'', first broadcast on BBC One on 26 January 2020. It was written by Vinay Patel and current showrunner Chris C ...
' with
Chris Chibnall Christopher Antony Chibnall (born 21 March 1970) is an English television writer and producer, best known as the creator and writer of the award-winning ITV mystery-crime drama ''Broadchurch'' and as a showrunner of the long-running BBC sci ...
, for the twelfth series.
Jo Martin Jo Martin (born 29 April) is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom '' The Crouches'', which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'' in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed a ...
appears as a character named Ruth Clayton, later revealed to be a previously unknown incarnation of the Doctor. Martin is credited as Ruth and with an "introducing" credit as the Doctor, as previous new incarnations of the character have been since 2005. The episode featured the return of
Jack Harkness Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in '' Doctor Who'' and its spin-off series, ''Torchwood''. The character first appears in the 2005 ''Doctor Who'' episode "The Empty Child" and subsequently features in the ...
played by
John Barrowman John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his role as Captain Jack Harkness in '' Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood'', and as Malcolm Merlyn in the Arrow ...
, after a ten-year absence from the series. Barrowman's appearance was not publicised prior to broadcast. In November 2021, it was announced Patel would write on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
's television adaptation of '' One Day''.


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Vinay Living people 21st-century British male writers British dramatists and playwrights British male dramatists and playwrights British Asian writers British male screenwriters British television writers British male television writers 1986 births 21st-century British screenwriters