Kieron Quirke is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Early life

Quirke was educated at King Edward's School,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and the Junior Royal Academy of Music. Quirke attended Merton College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He was Librarian of the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

and left with a Double First in Classics. He is a member and former Scholar of Inner Temple

Journalism

FT Young Critic of the Year in 2003, Quirke wrote on theatre for the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' before he made it as a TV writer''.''

Television

Quirke wrote television for many years with

Robin French Robin French (born 1978, Birmingham) is an English playwright, film and television writer and songwriter. Background French's father is English, his mother is from Barbados. French studied modern and medieval languages at Selwyn College, Cambri ...

. Their early output included work on children's drama ''

I Dream ''I Dream'' is a British children's musical television comedy programme aimed at teenage audiences, which aired in 2004. It was set at an esteemed performing arts college near Barcelona, Spain, and focuses on 13 teenagers who are invited to enr ...

'', and the comedy sketch show, ''

Man Stroke Woman ''Man Stroke Woman'' is a British television comedy sketch show directed by Richard Cantor and produced by Ash Atalla and starring Amanda Abbington, Ben Crompton, Daisy Haggard, Meredith MacNeill, Nicholas Burns and Nick Frost. In addition ...

''. Quirke and French created Roommates, a new

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

which premiered on ABC Family on 23 March 2009. Their eight-part drama ''

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

'' appeared on British television from September 2009. They were nominated amongst the Hot Shot Writers of 2008 by ''Broadcast'' magazine. In 2012 the sitcom ''

Cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...

'', created and written by Quirke and French, aired on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

. It ran to five series on BBC3 and BBC1. Quirke created and wrote the

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

, ''

Defending the Guilty ''Defending the Guilty'' is a British television sitcom. It stars Will Sharpe and Katherine Parkinson as London barristers. The programme was broadcast in the United Kingdom from 19 September 2018 on BBC Two. The show was recommissioned for ...

,'' which premiered in 2019. A second series was commissioned, but later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has recently co-written '' This England'' with

Michael Winterbottom Michael Winterbottom (born 29 March 1961) is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—''Welcome to Sarajevo'', ''Wonderland'' and ''24 Hour Party People''—h ...

, which premieres on Sky Atlantic on 28th September 2022.

References

External links

Articles by Kieron Quirke
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British male journalists British writers Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Place of birth missing (living people) {{UK-writer-stub