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"We’re thrilled to announce the 11 writers we’ve been working with from across the Midlands and North of England. Ros Ward, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Writers Development Producer, and I have had the absolute pleasure of working closely with this talented group over the past six months to develop a distinctive series outline that is ready to go to script. Alongside their projects, the group have also been attending workshops and masterclasses with industry professionals that have enabled them to develop their craft skills, gain knowledge of the industry and build their network. We feel so privileged to have worked with them as part of Voices. It’s been great to see their creative growth and we’re excited to see what they do next!"

Usman Mullan, Development Producer, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Writers

Natalie Beech

Natalie Beech is a scriptwriter based in Manchester. In 2022 she won the Channel 4 Writing for Television Award with New Writing North, going on to develop a TV pilot with Rollem Productions. In 2023 she was chosen for the BFI Script Lab and she is currently developing an audio drama as part of the LOOP Audio Drama Fund with Free Turn and Screen Yorkshire.

In 2023 she was shortlisted for the BFI’s Early Development Film Fund and the Screenskills/Dandi Regional Breakthrough Writers Programme and her plays have been staged at theatres including The Pleasance, the Arcola and The Bread and Roses Theatre. Her debut play Collegiate had sold out runs in London and Leicester and she has received commissions from organisations such as the international HeforShe campaign to create documentary and site-specific theatre.

Ashlee Elizabeth-Lolo

Ashlee Elizabeth-Lolo is a writer, dramaturg, award-winning journalist, and drama practitioner from Birmingham. 

She has written for and collaborated with numerous arts organisations, including The Birmingham Rep, Beatfreeks, Talawa Theatre, Slanguages (Oxford University, Birmingham City University, and Punch Records), Women and Theatre, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and Birmingham Hippodrome. She's also an alumna of English Touring Theatre’s 'Nationwide Voices' programme (2023). 

Ashlee loves crafting stories that delve into big life questions about culture, sociopolitical issues, faith, philosophy, and the future, in a relatable way. Her writing often blends mythology with technology and a sense of playfulness. She enjoys writing for both adults and young audiences alike. 

Her debut play 'Blueprints' was performed at The Pleasance Theatre in London and Edinburgh in June and August 2023. 

She hosts a weekly radio show that celebrates community and creativity in Birmingham.

Christian Emanuel

Christian Emanuel is a writer/director from Birmingham, England. Christian started his initial foray into film with his work in shorts, writing his first short film in 2016 which he then went on to direct and produce. He continued to work in the format as a writer, script editor and producer before transitioning into the development of long form material.

He obtained his first TV pilot option in 2023 by ‘Sex Education’ producer and Kudos Knight development exec Rem Conway and was selected as one of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Voices for the North and Midlands in 2024.

He is currently balancing a job in production as a director’s assistant for Nathaniel Martello-White as part of a six-part ´óÏó´«Ã½ drama under the production company The Forge while continuing to develop his writing practice and tell stories that are raw, uncomfortable and honest to the human experience.

Jim English

Jim English is passionate about writing real people in real situations, with a focus on making people laugh. Throughout his twenties, Jim started writing plays and set up a theatre company called 'end of the line'. He also became a supported writer at Hull Truck, writing for them and other theatre companies such as Middle Child, Leeds Playhouse and Hawkseed Theatre.

Jim grew up in Hull, Yorkshire and has lived in Manchester, where his Mum and Grandparents are from, since he was 22. He trained at Rose Bruford College and has worked as an actor for ten years working for such companies as the Globe, Mike Leigh, Jim Loach, and appeared in programs such as Tracy Beaker.

Jim currently teaches Performing Arts at Manchester College while focussing all of his creative time on writing. This year, Jim was selected to be a part of the 2024 ´óÏó´«Ã½ Voices North and Midlands cohort, and has been working on developing his TV idea FOSSIL.

Lee Hodgetts

Lee Hodgetts is a writer from St Helens, Merseyside who grew up in a proud working-class family of builders and support workers. During his time at university, he was selected by the Royal Television Society for a prestigious bursary scheme which supports talented students from low-income backgrounds.

Last year, he took part in a paid writers’ room with Joi Productions developing the story for a detective drama series which will earn him a writing credit if it’s made. He was also shortlisted for the Sky Comedy Rep writing contest and his LGBTQ+ short play was showcased at the London Southwark Playhouse.

During the darkest days of the pandemic, he became a key worker at a Merseyside care home where he tried to raise morale by providing residents with entertaining activities such as karaoke, flamenco dancing and whiskey tasting. Over the years, he’s also worked in marketing at The Walt Disney Company, and in development at major production companies such as Neal Street Productions and New Pictures.

His fully funded comedy-drama short film ‘Bad Luck Sally’ begins shooting this summer and will be directed by award-winning filmmaker, Lola Atkins.

Chrissy Jamieson Jones

Chrissy Jamieson Jones won the biennial Alfred Bradley Award (2023) in collaboration with ´óÏó´«Ã½ Writers and her first audio drama, MOUTH, was aired on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 in March 2024. In 2021 she was selected for the Liverpool Royal Court StageWrite playwrights’ programme and since then has been shortlisted for the Shelagh Delaney New Writing Award 2023 and had work performed at The Oldham Coliseum; Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester; Southwark Theatre, London; and Liverpool’s Royal Court Studio. 

Chrissy has an MA in Creative Writing, also writes Spoken Word and is collaborating with Box of Tricks Theatre, Manchester, on a new full-length play, as part of their PenPals scheme. She currently writes alongside being a mum and psychotherapist and loves to write both drama and comedy exploring mental health issues, power dynamics and all kinds of dysfunctional relationships. She is beyond excited to be working on a new TV drama as part of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Voices 2024.

Maureen Lennon

Maureen is a Hull based writer, a graduate from the English and Theatre Studies BA from The University of Bristol and the Writing for Performance and Publication MA from The University of Leeds. She is an Associate Artist of Middle Child Theatre, a Leeds Playhouse FUSE writer 2019, a Sphinx30 playwright and a Boxfresh writer 2023, which allowed her to work with Rope Ladder Fiction and Box of Tricks. In 2020 her play HELEN was shortlisted for the Theatre 503 International Playwriting prize. 

Her full length theatre credits include DEAD GIRLS RISING (Silent Uproar 2024), BABY HE LOVES YOU (Middle Child Theatre 2024), HELEN (Theatre 503/ Terrain Theatre 2023), THE COPPERGATE WOMAN (York Theatre Royal 2022), US AGAINST WHATEVER (Middle Child Theatre 2019). She has also written work for Paines Plough, Hull Truck Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Absolutely Cultured and Pilot Theatre. 

As well as work for theatre she has written for Hull Truck’s online Soap opera Consequences, Middle Child Theatre’s online animated panto, a series of short films produced by Hull Truck and KCOM Miracle On The Humber, and a VR theatre experience Virtual Horizons. She is represented by Giles Smart at United Agents.

Joe McNally

Joe McNally is a writer from Liverpool. His debut play ‘Cosmic’ was commissioned and staged at Liverpool’s Royal Court in 2023. He was also the recipient of the 2023 New Writing North Channel 4 Writing for Television award.

Joe currently has a script commission from Channel 4 and Bonafide Films, as well as a project in development with Firebird Pictures.

Nathan Queeley-Dennis

Nathan Queeley-Dennis is an award winning writer and actor from Birmingham, He won the prestigious Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting in 2022 with his debut play Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe with a sell out run before transferring for a run at the Royal Court with widespread critical acclaim. Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz is about to tour across the UK in autumn 2024. 

Nathan is currently working on screen projects with Kudos, House Productions, Warp Films, Cornerstone Films and Genesius Pictures, Pulse Films, The Story Collective and a pilot with Dancing Ledge. For theatre he is working on two new plays. 

Nathan likes stories that explore the complexities and magic in the mundanity of life whilst also making sure that Birmingham and the Midlands are in the DNA of those stories. 

Ric Renton

From Newcastle, a childhood riddled with adversity, Ric had a transformative experience while in prison during a stint in solitary confinement when he declined the bible he was offered and asked for the dictionary instead.  

Reading it gave Ric a love for language, and his journey into writing began there. Ric channelled his experiences into his writing, culminating in plays like NOTHING IN A BUTTERFLY and ONE OFF, the latter an autobiographical exploration set in HMP Durham, acclaimed by The Guardian and The Stage.

Ric recently completed prestigious writers' programs at the Royal Court, Orange Tree Writers Collective, and Hampstead Theatre's Inspire Writers 2023, and had two more plays commissioned, MORAL ANIMAL, and IGNORE IT. UNTIL SOMETHING SERIOUS HAPPENS. 

Ric has two TV series in development with international production companies and recently completed two writers room, where he was commissioned to write an episode (it’s still all very hush hush).

Ric's work aims to illuminate truths, good and bad, of the human condition, drawing on his past to bring unique perspectives and voices to a wider audience.

Kirsty Taylor

Kirsty Taylor is a writer and educator inspired by her beloved hometown Bradford. She is passionate about story telling through poetry and has performed all over the country telling tales about people, class and the realities of Broken Britain. Kirsty was a ´óÏó´«Ã½ Verb New Voice in 2017 and was awarded the Apples and Snakes & Jerwood Arts Poetry in Performance award in 2020. She is the creator of the imitable Front Room Poetry, which takes nanna style living rooms and world class poets to unusual settings such as car parks and housing estates.   

In 2022 Kirsty's first full length play Cashy C's: The Musical, a unique rap and bassline show about poverty and austerity sold out all it's shows in under twenty four hours, received five star reviews and was voted in The Guardian Readers favourite stage shows of 2022. In January 2024 she was awarded the Kay Mellor Fellowship and is pursuing her writing with support from Rollem Productions and Leeds Play House, developing an idea for screen and theatre about mothers who have their children removed.