THE STORY
My tribute is actually based on parts of the life of my granddad Alan who sadly passed away in April 2016.
The character is actually an amalgam of all of my grandparents- my English grandma was a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, my Polish/German grandma was the best storyteller that ever lived and did indeed escape Nazi Germany in a hurry. My Polish/German grandpa used to do magic tricks. My English grandpa used to bury sweets on the hills for me and my brothers to find. And all four of them loved to tell me different, exaggerated stories about their lives- apart from perversely, my English codebreaking Grandma, who had perhaps the most exciting story to tell. I loved writing the tribute as it felt cathartic but also actually a fitting and wonderful tribute, not just to my grandpa but my other grandparents too.
THE WRITER – DANIEL BRIERLEY
Daniel grew up in Somerset and is now London-based. He loves telling stories about ‘ordinary’ people doing extraordinary things. He graduated with an MA in screenwriting from the National Film and Television School and has written plays including Turning Barley, The Hobo Code (Soho Theatre), Daytrippers (Theatre Royal East) and Farmyard Rules (Bush Theatre).
His 2010 sitcom Gypos was a finalist in BBC’s All Mixed Up and performed as a stage play at the Soho Theatre.
Previous projects include writing and directing a short film for the BBC starring Olivia Williams as a giant panda and My Face in Space, nominated for Best British Short at Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2012. He won the BAFTA Rocliffe New Comedy award in 2014 and has since developed projects with Channel 4 & Tiger Aspect in the UK and ID and Sundance in the States.
Along with director Tom Jobbins he’s developing an animated feature film with Aardman and the BFI. In 2016 TV script ‘Watchers’ was optioned by Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty) for Hattrick and his script ‘Queensguard’ was optioned by Stephen Spence (Forget Me Not) for LV films.
THE ACTOR – SAM CRANE
Sam is known for his acclaimed performances both at the National Theatre and in the West End. His extensive theatre credits include Winston Smith in 1984, Farinelli in FARINELLI AND THE KING opposite Mark Rylance and most recently Theo in SUNSET AT THE VILLA THALIA. On screen, Sam has starred as Fred Walters in BBC series DESPERATE ROMANTICS, as well as an episode of CALL THE MIDWIFE. Sam recently finished filming FEARLESS for ITV.