Mark Catley Interview

Tell us about how you started writing...

I started writing in my last year of university when I wrote a play for a dissertation. That was in 1996 and that was the suggestion of the tutor because she knew there was nothing I was that interested in to write for a dissertation, so I wrote Angel for that. I didn't really think anything of it for a few years, then in about 1999 I got into a conversation with Mike Kenny, who was a Leeds based writer, and said to him "You know, I wrote a play." And he read it for me and got it produced by Blah Blah Blah, a local theatre company, who then went on to support me on other projects as well. From that I got into the West Yorkshire Playhouse, and by this point BBC had sort of got involved. They'd actually put money up for the very first play and kept a fairly close eye on me through the Writer's Room. Then I got two radio commissions, and then when John Yorke came back to the BBC, one of his criteria was to start the Writers' Academy, which was an annual event for eight writers to look at writing for TV, and then rotating through the in-house shows of Doctors, EastEnders, Holby and Casualty, and I got onto that.

How did you feel about writing for those shows?

I tried to ruin the first interview because I didn't have any interest in writing for television. I was quite arrogant at that point. The TV world was something that - it was fear more than anything else - it was something I was unfamiliar with, kind of scared of. From the background I'm from it's not really the normal course to go into theatre or television, so each stage has been quite terrifying.

And how do you feel about the Academy now?

Well the greatest thing was learning structure. All of a sudden I was given tools, whereas before you were just trying to work off instinct and, you know, some wankerish writer knowledge or whatever that you think that you're born with. I don't know. But then to actually sit down and learn it in a very mathematical way - which is how John teaches it - looking at archetypes, looking at story structure, character change, and how it's reflected throughout storytelling throughout history.

And then because I'd managed to develop an original voice it was really easy to put my original voice on that structure. And then every show that I've worked on they've really liked the way I've approached their characters. But all I see that I'm doing is making them my characters from the theatre place that I was writing from, sort of trying to melt the two things together.

So when I write Charlie, I try and make him very witty, very dry, which is a lot like the elder male characters that I tend to write in my plays.

And now you are the lead writer on Casualty. How did that come about?

For part of the Academy I wrote one episode of Casualty. And then the next thing I know they're offering me episodes one and two of the new series which is a massive task for a relatively new writer.

And I think the thing that's done it is I fought tooth and nail for my vision for one and two. I mean, at one point it was me against absolutely everybody involved with doing one and two. And I dug my heels in and fortunately I was proved right, obviously with the support of John Yorke as well, cos I was sort of practising what he preached and getting quite a lot of resistance to it. But everyone resists change.

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