Writer and director Steven Knight started a freelance writing partnership with Mike Whitehill in 1988, providing material for television and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? which Knight co-created. He has published four novels The Movie House, Alphabet City, Out of the Blue and the children’s novel, The Last Words of Will Wolfkin.
Knight’s first screenplay, Dirty Pretty Things, was directed by Stephen Frears and was selected to open the prestigious London Film Festival. Dirty Pretty Things won four British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), the 2005 Humanitas Prize for Film and an Oscar® nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 76th Annual Academy Awards®, among other honors.
He has written a number of high-profile screenplays including Eastern Promises, The Hundred Foot Journey, Allied, Woman Walks Ahead and Spencer along with three he also directed – Hummingbird, Locke and Serenity.
Knight is also the creator, executive producer and writer of the BAFTA-winning television series Peaky Blinders, starring Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory and Paul Anderson. He was also the creator, executive producer and writer on the FX and BBC series Taboo, which starred Tom Hardy.
He adapted the book SAS Rogue Heroes which aired on the BBC and has two other projects currently in production – All the Light We Cannot See based on the book of the same name and drama series This Town. Knight was also part of the creative team behind the opening ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Knight received a CBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2020 for services to Drama, Entertainment and the community of Birmingham. He also has the highest honor from the Royal Television Society’s Midlands Centre – the Baird Medal – in recognition of his career along with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Worcester and an Honorary Degree of Doctor from the Birmingham City University and a UCL Honorary Fellowship.
