Simon Ashdown

Simon Ashdown is a British television writer, best known as being a BAFTA award-nominated EastEnders writer.

Career

Ashdown is currently series consultant and lead writer on EastEnders. He was involved in the creation of the Slater family, and along with other writers, developed the characters around the actors themselves, rather than the other way round. He created the character of Max Branning and has been responsible for numerous key episodes such as Ethel Skinner’s death, Stacey Slater’s bipolar and the who killed Archie storyline. In 2010 he wrote the twenty fifth anniversary live episode. More recent episodes that he has written include Pat Evans' death, Mandy Salter's second exit, Janine Butcher's temporary exit, the aftermath of David Wick's return and the Jake and Sadie reveal.

Alongside his work on EastEnders he also wrote and co-created, with Jeremy Dyson of The League of Gentlemen, the innovative drama Funland which was nominated for the best drama serial BAFTA in 2005. He wrote the two part drama Kitchen starring Eddie Izzard and Perfect for Film Four, directed by Rankin and starring Marc Warren. He’s worked on numerous other drama series including City Central, Casualty and has acted as story consultant on numerous productions including Crash Palace for Sky and Come Fly With Me for the BBC. He’s recently adapted Franz Kafka’s The Trial with Jeremy Dyson for the BBC.

The RTÉ series Raw is based on Kitchen, it is currently in its 4th season.

Writing credits

Production	Notes	Broadcaster
EastEnders	143 episodes (1995–2013)	BBC One
Casualty	"Nightfall" (1996)	BBC One
City Central	"A Night on the Town" (1998)	BBC One
EastEnders: Ricky & Bianca	Television film (2002)	BBC One
Perfect	Short film (2003)	N/A
Holby City	"Hair of the Dog" (2003)	BBC One
Funland	11 episodes (co-written with Jeremy Dyson, 2005)	BBC Three
Kitchen	Television film (2007)	Channel 5
Come Fly with Me	6 episodes (story consultant, 2010–2011)	BBC One
EastEnders: Phil on Remand	Mini-episode (series consultant, 2012)	BBC Red Button
EastEnders: Billy's Olympic Nightmare	Mini-episode (series consultant, 2012)	BBC Red Button
EastEnders: All I Want for Christmas Is...	Mini-episode (series consultant, 2012)	BBC Red Button
EastEnders: T&B 4Eva	Mini-episode (series consultant, 2012)	BBC Red Button

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Category	Result
2006	British Academy Television Awards	Funland	Best Drama Serial (with Kenton Allen, Jeremy Dyson and Sanne Wohlenberg)	Nominated
2008	British Soap Award	EastEnders (the aftermath of Max Branning and Stacey Branning's affair)	Best Storyline (with Charlie Clements, Jo Joyner, Lacey Turner and Jake Wood)	Won
2009	British Soap Award	EastEnders (Bianca discovers Tony is a paedophile)	Best Storyline	Nominated
2010	British Soap Award	EastEnders: "Who Killed Archie?"	Best Storyline	Won
2011	British Soap Award	EastEnders (Billie Jackson's death)	Best Single Episode	Nominated
	Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award	EastEnders: "Dot's Impossible Decision"	Best Continuing Drama	Nominated
2012	British Soap Award	EastEnders	Special Achievement	Won
	British Soap Award	EastEnders (Pat Evans's death)	Best Single Episode (with Pam St. Clement and Jennie Darnell)	Nominated
	British Soap Award	EastEnders (The Brannings deal with Tanya's cancer diagnosis)	Best Storyline	Nominated
2013	British Soap Award	EastEnders (The demise of Derek Branning)	Best Exit (with Jamie Foreman and Jennie Darnell)	Nominated
	British Soap Award	EastEnders (The identity of Kat's lover is revealed)	Best Single Episode (with Karl Neilson)	Nominated
	British Soap Award	EastEnders (The demise of Derek Branning)	Best Storyline	Nominated

References

External links

• Simon Ashdown at the Internet Movie Database