6th February, 20:00 - 21:00 GMT

Pay-What-You-Can

Online / Zoom

100% of all Donations go to The Louis Dundas Centre for Palliative Care at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Contact: info@runatitshouting.co.uk

+ Q&A FORMAT

Get an insight in to the process of Director Fergus O'Brien

100% of all Donations go to The Louis Dundas Centre for Palliative Care at Great Ormond Street Hospital

+ BIO

Fergus had a 20-year background in documentary as a producer/director and executive producer at BBC Studios before making the move to drama. In the documentary genre he was twice nominated for a BAFTA and won a Royal Television Society (RTS) award for his series STEPHEN FRY:OUT THERE (BBC).

He began directing drama in 2017 with his film AGAINST THE LAW which he developed from the book of the same name and then collaborated with writer Brian Fillis to bring to screen. The 70-minute film blends drama with moments of documentary testimony from gay men who spoke personally on the themes of persecution addressed in the drama. The film was nominated for two BAFTA awards for Best Single Drama and Best Cinematography.

Fergus’s second film, MOTHER’S DAY, was based on his extensive research and interviews with the real-life characters at the heart of the drama. The single drama was nominated for an RTS Best Drama award and won the BANFF Best TV Movie Award.

Recognising that the next obvious step in his career would be to direct a primetime TV drama, Fergus landed Lead Director on season 3 of THE A WORD (BBC/Keshet/Sundance) written by Peter Bowker. His work on this attracted the attention of writer and showrunner, Sally Wainwright, who invited Fergus to direct the concluding 3 episodes of GENTLEMAN JACK (S2) (BBC/HBO). So impressed with Fergus’s storytelling, Wainwright then invited him to direct the final ever episodes of her hit show HAPPY VALLEY (S3) (BBC/AMC). His episodes were the most watched of all UK drama in 2023. To date, the show has won the National TV Award (NTA) for Best Drama Series, several RTS awards including Best Series, and the Rose D’or for Best Performance of the Year by Sarah Lancashire.

Fergus has just completed work as Lead Director on THE TOURIST (S2) for BBC1 in the UK, Stan in Australia and Netflix for the US market.