Personal life

Cottrell-Boyce was born in 1959 Liverpool to a Catholic family. He attended nearby St Bartholomew's Primary School and West Park secondary.

He was an undergraduate at Keble College, Oxford and then completed a doctorate in English, also at Oxford University.He wrote criticism for the magazine Living Marxism. As a result, there was supposedly always a copy of the magazine on sale in the newsagent set of long-running British soap Coronation Street, while Cottrell Boyce was on the writing staff of that programme.

He is married and the father of seven children. He is also a patron of the Insight Film Festival, a biennial, interfaith festival held in Manchester, UK, to make positive contributions to understanding, respect and community cohesion.

Career

After he met Michael Winterbottom, the two collaborated on Forget About Me. Winterbottom made five further films based on screenplays written by Cottrell Boyce, Butterfly Kiss, Welcome to Sarajevo, The Claim, 24 Hour Party People and Code 46. Their 2005 collaboration, A Cock and Bull Story, is their last according to Cottrell-Boyce, who asked that his contribution be credited to Martin Hardy, a pseudonym. He told Variety, "I just had to move on ... what better way to walk away than by giving Winterbottom a good script for free?"

Other film directors Cottrell-Boyce has worked with include Danny Boyle (Millions), Alex Cox (Revengers Tragedy), Richard Laxton (Grow Your Own) and Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie).

Cottrell-Boyce has been praised by Roger Ebert as one of the few truly inventive modern-day screenwriters. He has spoken against the "three-act structure" and the "hero's journey" formulas, which are often regarded as axiomatic truths in the business.

In addition to original scripts, Cottrell-Boyce has also adapted novels for the screen and written children's fiction. His first novel Millions was based on his own screenplay for the film of the same name; it was published by Macmillan in 2004. Cottrell-Boyce won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising it as the year's best children's book published in the U.K. His next novel Framed, he made the shortlist for both the Carnegie and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. He adapted it as a screenplay for a 2009 BBC television film. He made the Carnegie shortlist again for Cosmic (2008). In 2011, he was commissioned to write a sequel to the Ian Fleming children's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which was published in October 2011 as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again In addition to Coronation Street, he wrote many episodes of the soap opera Brookside, as well as its spin-off Damon and Debbie.

He wrote and staged his first original theatre production Proper Clever at the Liverpool Playhouse during the city's European Capital of Culture Year, in 2008. On 19 September 2011, he co-presented the Papal Visit at Hyde Park with TV personality Carol Vorderman. In June 2012, he assumed the position of Professor of Reading (the first such professorship) at Liverpool Hope University.

Cottrell-Boyce was the writer of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, whose storyline he based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. He collaborated with director Danny Boyle and other members of the creative team, including designer Mark Tildesley, in the development of the story and themes, and wrote "short documents that told the story of each segment" to provide context for choreographers, builders and other participants. He also wrote the brochure, the stadium announcements and the media guide for presenter Huw Edwards.

Three months later, Cottrell-Boyce won the 2012 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for The Unforgotten Coat. That story of a crosscultural friendship was inspired by a Mongolian girl he met as a writer visiting her school, whose family was subsequently deported by the British immigration office. It was commissioned by Reader Organisation of Liverpool and 50,000 copies were given away. The Guardian Prize is judged by a panel of British children's writers and recognises the year's best book by an author who has not yet won it. Interviewed by the sponsoring newspaper, Cottrell Boyce told The Guardian that "I'm definitely a children's writer that's what I want to be. I'm always trying to get rid of everything else. ... The movies I'm doing are ones that have been on the blocks for a long time."

Cottrell-Boyce was made an Honorary Doctor of Literature at Edge Hill University on 16 July 2013. In 2014, Cottrell Boyce wrote an episode of Doctor Who, titled "In the Forest of the Night". In September 2015, Cottrell Boyce held the keynote speech at the Children´s and Young Adult Program of the 15th international literature festival berlin.

Novels

• Millions (2004)
• Framed (2005)
• Cosmic (2008)
• Desirable (2008)
• The Unforgotten Coat (2011)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (2011)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time (2012)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Over the Moon (2013)
• The Astounding Broccoli Boy (2015)

Appearances

• March 2010 - Desert Island Discs

Writing credits

Production	Notes	Broadcaster
Brookside	"Double Talk" (1987) "Reconnection" (1987) "Fish" (1989) "Glasses" (1989)	Channel 4
Damon and Debbie	Television miniseries (1987)	Channel 4
The Real Eddy English	Television miniseries (1989)	Channel 4
Forget About Me	Feature film (1990)	N/A
In Suspicious Circumstances	"An Uncommon Murder" (1992) "Unjust Deserts" (1992)	ITV
Crime Story	"All Good Friends" (1992)	ITV
A Woman's Guide to Adultery	"Episode #1.1" (1993) "Episode #1.2" (1993) "Episode #1.3" (1993)	ITV
Coronation Street	"Episode #1.3207" (1991) "Episode #1.3243" (1991) "Episode #1.3399" (1992) "Episode #1.3801" (1995)	ITV
Butterfly Kiss	Feature film (1995)	N/A
Saint-Ex	Feature film (1996)	N/A
New York Crossing	Television film (1996)	RAI
Captain Star	"The Atomic Alarm Clock" (1997) "Day of the Zooties" (1997) "The Worm Turns" (1997) "The Edge of the Universe" (1997)	ITV
Welcome to Sarajevo	Feature film (1997)	N/A
Hilary and Jackie	Feature film (1998)	N/A
Pandaemonium	Feature film (2000)	N/A
The Claim	Feature film (2000)	N/A
24 Hour Party People	Feature film (2002)	N/A
Revengers Tragedy	Feature film (2002)	N/A
Code 46	Feature film (2003)	N/A
Millions	Feature film (2004)	N/A
A Cock and Bull Story	Feature film (2005)	N/A
Grow Your Own	Feature film (2007)	N/A
God on Trial	Television film (2008)	BBC Two PBS
Framed	Television film (2009)	BBC One
London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder	Television film (2012)	BBC One
The Railway Man	Feature film (2013)	N/A
Doctor Who	"In the Forest of the Night" (2014)	BBC One

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Category	Result	Reference
1993	Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award	Coronation Street	TV - Original Drama Serial (with Paul Abbott, Martin Allen, Ken Blakeson, Tom Elliott, Barry Hill, Stephen Mallatratt, Julian Roach, Adele Rose, Patrea Smallacombe, John Stevenson, Peter Whalley, Mark Wadlow and Phil Woods)	Won
1999	British Academy Film Awards	Hilary and Jackie	Best Screenplay - Adapted	Nominated
	Golden Satellite Award		Best Motion Picture Screenplay - Adaption	Nominated
2001	British Independent Film Award	The Claim	Best Screenplay	Nominated
2004	Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival	Code 46	Best Screenplay	Won
2005	British Independent Film Award	Millions	Best Screenplay	Won
	Humanitas Prize		Feature Film Category	Nominated
2007	Chlotrudis Awards	A Cock and Bull Story	Best Adapted Screenplay	Won
2014	Australian Film Critics Association Awards	The Railway Man	Best Screenplay (with Andy Paterson)	Nominated
	Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards		Best Script (with Andy Paterson)	Won
2015	Australian Film Institute Award		Best Adapted Screenplay (with Andy Paterson)	Won

Awards

• 2004: Buch des Monats des Instituts für Jugendliteratur/Book of the Month by the Institute for Youth Literature (Germany), Millions
• 2004: Carnegie Medal, Millions
• 2004: Luchs des Jahres (Germany), Millions
• 2004: Eule des Monats (Germany), Millions
• 2005: Branford Boase Award, shortlist, Millions
• 2005: Carnegie Medal, shortlist, Framed
• 2006: Die besten 7 (Germany), Framed
• 2008: Guardian Prize, shortlist, Cosmic
• 2009: Carnegie Medal, shortlist, Cosmic
• 2011: Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award, Honors, Cosmic
• 2011: Costa Book Awards, shortlist, The Unforgotten Coat

[ Source: Wikipedia ]