Andrew Davies(I)

Welsh screenwriter, playwright and novelist Andrew Wynford Davies is acclaimed as being second to none when it comes to adapting literary classics for the screen. Davies was born in Rhibwina, a suburb of Cardiff, the son of educators. He went to school in his home town and subsequently studied at University College in London, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1957. He then worked as a school teacher until 1963, before taking up a position as English lecturer at the Coventry College of Education (later to become Warwick University). While there, he began sidelining as a writer-most often for the BBC-- producing radio dramas, one-off anthology TV scripts and plays. Two of his plays made it to Broadway: Fearless Frank in 1980, and Rose the following year. Though critical reception for these was decidedly mixed, Davies soon found popular success with his TV adaptations of The Legend of King Arthur (1979) and R.F. Delderfield's post-World War I novel To Serve Them All My Days (1980). Moreover, towards the end of his academic tenure, he penned another hit: the quirky, surreal university satire A Very Peculiar Practice (1986), inspired in part by his own experiences. Now able to concentrate on writing full-time, Davies went on to deliver his biggest blockbuster yet, the political thriller House of Cards (1990). It starred Ian Richardson in his most famous role as the corrupt Conservative Whip Francis Urquhart, who rises to the position of UK Prime Minister through a series of ruthless Macchiavellian schemes. House of Cards spawned an equally successful American adaptation of that name and won Davies a 1991 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or a Special.

Even greater recognition came by way of his adaption of Jane Austen 's Pride and Prejudice (1995) for BBC TV. This six-part miniseries made Davies a household name and elevated Colin Firth to heartthrob status. Davies was later quoted saying "It changed my life really; changed my career. It made me famous, in a modest sort of way. Nobody had really ever heard of me before Pride and Prejudice, and now people do know my name, and it's all to do with the success of that show." In fact, that success was a least partly due to the writer's predilection for 'sexing up' his period dramas, thereby making them more accessible to a contemporary audience. In his own words: "When you're adapting period novels the sexual imperative is one of the clearest links between us and them."

In 1998, then ITV drama boss Nick Elliott declared that "he always knew a classic serial would be wonderful if Davies writes the script". Being highly regarded and much in demand allowed Davies to eventually command fees in excess of £200,000 for a six part serial. Dubbed 'the king of the adaptors', Davies has re-imagined literary classics like Middlemarch (1994), The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996), Vanity Fair (1998), Daniel Deronda (2002), Sense & Sensibility (2008) and War & Peace (2016). Arguably, the best-ever filmed versions of any works by Charles Dickens have been Davies's BBC screenplays for Bleak House (2005) and Little Dorrit (2008). The former was nominated for ten Primetime Emmys and won the 2006 BAFTA for best drama serial. A reviewer for the Radio Times declared "Watching this extraordinary version of Dickens's novel feels less like watching a TV drama and more like sampling a strange other world....each frame is composed to perfection, each face lit like an oil painting, and the acting is out of this world." Little Dorrit, likewise, attracted much praise, especially in the United States. The reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle described it as "terrific entertainment... in some ways, perhaps even better than its source material." The series garnered multiple BAFTA TV Award and Primetime Emmy nominations, including an Emmy win for Davies for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. Six years earlier, Davies had been awarded a BAFTA fellowship for Lifetime Achievement.

In addition to his work for television, Davies has co-scripted the first two Bridget Jones movies and the espionage drama The Tailor of Panama (2001), starring Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush. He has authored radio plays since 1964 and is also noted as a writer of children's novels, beginning with 'Conrad's War' (published 1978).

Andrew Davies has been married to Diana Lennox Huntley since 1960. His hobbies are said to be tennis, food and alcohol. Age does not appear to have diminished his prodigious literary output.