Profile: Tony Jordan
06 Mar 09
Jordan started his writing career at the age of 32 when he submitted his first unsolicited script to the BBC. His background as a market stall holder served him well as, following a workshop with John Sullivan and Carla Lane, he was taken on to write for EastEnders in 1997 and has since written over 179 episodes.
Jordan graduated from scriptwriter to Series Consultant over his 18 years working with the soap having created several of the show’s most iconic and well loved characters including the Slater family and Alfie Moon.
His contribution to ongoing drama resulted in being presented with the Special Achievement award at last year’s British Soap Awards.
In 1992 Jordan went on to write on such iconic shows as Minder, Boon and Eldorado and later, additional writing credits on Thieftakers, The Vanishing Man starring Neil Morrissey and Can’t Buy Me Love starring Martin Kemp and Michelle Collins.
Jordan created his first series in 1998 for BBC One, the critically acclaimed City Central; a precinct cop show set in the gritty streets of Manchester starring Paul Nicholls, Lorraine Ashbourne and Ashley Jensen.
Jordan has since become synonymous with successful prime time drama having created some of the best loved series in recent years.
The creation of the hit drama Hustle starring Robert Vaughn, Adrian Lester and Marc Warren saw the start of a long running and successful relationship with Kudos. A glossy, entertaining drama following the fortunes of a group of expert con artists let loose on the streets of London, Hustle has become a huge global hit and gained nominations for two primetime Emmys to add to the nominations for a BAFTA and two RTS awards in the UK. A fifth series of Hustle was broadcast on BBC One in March 2009.
Jordan co-created the multiple award winning Life on Mars with Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah, again for Kudos, starring John Simm and Philip Glenister. A huge hit with both critics and audiences alike, Life on Mars saw a modern day cop thrust back to 1973 after a car crash and tackling the totally un-PC world of seventies’ policing.
Jordan set up his own production company, Red Planet Pictures in 2006 with regional offices in Bedfordshire and Wales, and won his first commission for the company with Holby Blue; a drama following the lives and loves of the officers based at Holby South Police Station and sister show to BBC One’s hugely popular long running series’ Casualty and Holby City.
Holby Blue was recommissioned for a second, extended run of 12 episodes and is currently transmitting on BBC One.
Jordan once again teamed up with Kudos to make ambitious dramas Echo Beach and Moving Wallpaper for ITV1 which transmitted in January 2008. Moving Wallpaper was a 12-episode comedy drama which starred Ben Miller and Hugo Speer, going behind the scenes of soap opera, Echo Beach. Echo Beach starred Jason Donovan and Martine McCutcheon and follows the finished soap opera that viewers see being made during its sister series. The drama is now in its second series starring Kelly Brook and Alan Dale.
Since setting up Red Planet Pictures Jordan has also completed the hunt for new writing talent with the launch of the Red Planet Prize; a competition to find the UK’s most promising scriptwriters. Jordan was joined on the judging panel by Stephen Fry, Mark Gatiss and BBC Wales Head of Drama, Julie Gardner. The winner of the prize was announced in February 2008 and Red Planet Pictures is currently developing the winning script. The competition was judged a great success and was re-launched in June 2008 to find another aspiring writer to join the already lustrous slate of writers associated with Red Planet Pictures.
Jordan has also signed a first look deal with Sony Pictures Television in the US to develop several projects for broadcast in the US and has also been brought on board to develop the script for TV series Kingdom which will be the first show to be broadcast on US and UK networks simultaneously.
As well as developing several new dramas, Jordan has also spearheaded the company’s move into factual and comedy programming and is currently working alongside comedy heavyweights Mark Gatiss and Julia Davies.
