Pearson Playwrights' Scheme (formerly Thames Television Theatre Writers Scheme) is a British organisation established in 1973 to support theatre writing. It runs the Pearson Award for Best New Play.

History

In 1973, Howard Thomas, then managing director of

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

, launched the ''Thames Television Theatre Writers Scheme'' to support and celebrate new writing in the theatre. He believed that television owed much to the theatre for its supply of creative talent. In 1993 Pearson PLC took over the sponsorship of the scheme and it became the ''Pearson Playwrights' Scheme''. Over the past 30 years, the scheme has helped launch some of the finest British play-writing talent. Each year, bursaries are awarded to new writers and an additional award is offered to the writer of the best play. These are selected by the scheme's panel, chaired by Sir

John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for short stories about a barrister named Horace Rumpole, adapted from episodes of the TV series '' R ...

CBE QC. The awards are called the Pearson Award for Best New Play. Since 2014 the scheme has been sponsored by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Panel and patrons

The panel has included Michael Billington,

Thelma Holt Thelma Holt (born 4 January 1932) is a British theatre producer and former actress. After a successful career as an actress, in partnership with Charles Marowitz, Holt founded the Open Space Theatre in Tottenham Court Road, London, which bec ...

CBE, Sue Summers, Catherine Johnson,

Beryl Bainbridge Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. She won the Whitbread Awards priz ...

DBE and John Tydeman. Patrons include Sir

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. As of 2025, he has written and produced 90 full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen ...

CBE,

Alan Bleasdale Alan George Bleasdale (born 23 March 1946) is an English screenwriter, best known for social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people. A former teacher, he has written for radio, stage and screen, and has also written novels ...

Stephen Daldry Stephen David Daldry Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway theatre, Broadway and an Olivie ...

, Dame

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatility, having appeared in films and television, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage ...

, Sir

Richard Eyre Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Eyre has received numerous accolades including three Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nominations for six BAFTA Awards and two ...

, Sir Peter Hall CBE, Sir

Jeremy Isaacs Sir Jeremy Israel Isaacs (born 28 September 1932) is a Scottish television producer and executive, and an opera manager. Following a career at Granada Television, the BBC and Thames Television, Isaacs was the founding chief executive of Channe ...

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier (; 28 October 1929 – 16 January 2025), commonly known as Dame Joan Plowright, was an English actress whose career spanned over six decades. She received several accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, an ...

CBE, Sir

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (; born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

and

Sue Townsend Susan Lillian Townsend (; 2 April 194610 April 2014) was an English writer and humorist whose work encompasses novels, plays and works of journalism. She was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole. After writing in secret from the a ...

. The scheme is administrated by Jack Andrews MBE, and is supported by The Peggy Ramsay Foundation and The Olivier Foundation.

Pearson Award for Best New Play

Winners of the ''Pearson Award for Best New Play'', awarded annually since 1982. * 1982 Borderline by Hanif Kureshi (

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

) * 1983 True Dare Kiss by Debbie Horsfield (

Liverpool Playhouse The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actre ...

) * 1984 No award given * 1985 Particular Friendships by Martin Allen (

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. History The original ''Hampstead Theatre Clu ...

) * 1986 The Boys from Hibernia by Mark Power ( Belgrave Theatre, Coventry) * 1987 Dreams of San Francisco by Jacqueline Holborough (

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. Artistic Directors * Brian McDermott ...

) * 1988 No award given * 1989 Poor Beast in the Rain by

Billy Roche Billy Roche (born 11 January 1949) is an Irish playwright and actor. He was born and still lives in Wexford and most of his writings are based there. Originally a singer with The Roach Band, he turned to writing in the 1980s. He has written a n ...

(

) * 1990 The Pool of Bethesda by Allan Cubitt ( Guildhall School) * 1991 Talking in Tongues by Winsome Pinnock (

) & Dead Sheep by Catherine Johnson (

) * 1992 Worlds Apart by Paul Sirett ( Theatre Royal, Stratford) * 1993 No award given Scheme taken over from Thames by Pearson. * 1994

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

by Judith Johnson (

Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

) * 1995 Pale Horse by Joe Penhall (

) * 1996 The Cripple of Inishmaan by

Martin McDonagh Martin Faranan McDonagh ( ; born 26 March 1970) is a British-Irish playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his Absurdism, absurdist Black comedy, dark humour which often challenges the modern theatre aesthetic. He has won List of awards and no ...

(

) * 1997 Nabokov's Gloves by Peter Moffat ( Warehouse Theatre) * 1998 Martha, Josie & the Chinese Elvis by Charlotte Jones (

Octagon Theatre, Bolton The Octagon Theatre is a producing theatre located in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Programme The Octagon produces eight or nine professional theatre productions each year in its Main Auditorium. Productions come from a wide range of ...

) * 1999 Trust by

Gary Mitchell Gary Mitchell (born 3 May 1965) is a Northern Irish playwright. By the 2000s, he had become "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright". ...

(

) * 2000 Normal by Helen Blakeman (

) * 2001

Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

Simon Stephens Simon Stephens (born 6 February 1971) is a British-Irish playwright, musician and Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University. Having taught on the Young Writers' Programme at the Royal Court Theatre for many years, he is ...

(

Royal Exchange Theatre The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal Exc ...

, Manchester) * 2002 Drowned World by Gary Owen (

Paines Plough Paines Plough is a British touring theatre company founded in 1974, currently led by artistic directors Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner. The company commissions, develops and produces new plays for touring, and helps playwrights develop their ...

) &

Honeymoon Suite Honeymoon Suite is a Canadians, Canadian rock band formed in 1981 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The band's name was a nod to the fact that Niagara Falls is the unofficial honeymoon capital of the world. History 1981–1985 The band was origina ...

by Richard Bean (

) * 2003 The Straits by Gregory Burke (

) * 2004 All the Ordinary Angels by Nick Leather (

, Manchester) * 2005

Breathing Corpses ''Breathing Corpses'' is a 2005 play by the British playwright Laura Wade which first premiered at the Royal Court Theatre. Plot The play traces backwards, starting from the discovery of a corpse of a man named Jim in a hotel room by the seeming ...

by Laura Wade (

Finborough Theatre The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world p ...

). Play produced at the

. * 2006 Whipping It Up by Steve Thompson (

)

References

{{reflist 1973 establishments in the United Kingdom Arts organizations established in 1973 British writers' organisations Cultural organisations based in London