Writers' Studio: Soap & Cosy Crime 

About the courses

Throughout the year, we run Writers' Studio: Soap for each of our long-running drama series: EastEnders, Casualty, Doctors, and River City; while Writers' Studio: Cosy Crime is a bespoke residential course for Father Brown and Sister Boniface.

Each course gives budding writers the opportunity to learn what it takes to write on their chosen series, and write a shadow script with the potential to become part of the show's writing team.

Open Opportunities

There are currently no open opportunities but please keep checking this page regularly for updates.

Closed Opportunities

You can read about past training opportunities below.

Alumni successes

Asher Pirie

Asher sprang from a South London council estate with a pen in his hand. After graduating from Cardiff University with a First Class degree in Journalism, he eventually found his calling in screenwriting and has since penned over 20 hours of prime time British television. He has thrown teenagers off buildings as a core writer on Casualty, poisoned a pop star on Death In Paradise, terrorised campers in The Dumping Ground, executed the big series villain in his two-part finale of River City. But fearing his crimes weren’t quite cosy enough, he was delighted to be chosen for the inaugural BBC Cosy Crime Course. After receiving an unparalleled education from the best in the business (and narrowly escaping death by cake in the process), Asher went on to write for Series 3 of Sister Boniface Mysteries and loved every murderous minute of it - so he is returning for Series 4!

Adam Hughes

Adam was raised in Leeds to a working class, Eastern European family. He began his writing career in theatre, before moving into television, writing two episodes of BAFTA-winning medical drama Casualty. Having been brought up on Jessica Fletcher and Columbo, he was delighted to be chosen for the first-ever BBC Studios Cosy Crime Course. Following the course, Adam was commissioned to write an episode of Sister Boniface Mysteries and is currently writing his second. He has also written an episode of a brand-new Agatha Christie series for AMC/Lookout Point. 

Emma Dennis-Edwards

Emma Dennis-Edwards is a Writer/Performer of Jamaican and Trinidadian heritage. For TV, Emma's original single Consent aired on Channel 4 in February 2023, with the Evening Standard hailing it as 'a searing commentary that couldn't come at a more opportune moment.' Emma has also written on Champion (Candice Carty-Williams' show for BBC/New Pictures) and has written an episode of Daniel Lawrence Taylor's show Boarders for BBC, as well as being in the writers' room for series 2. Alongside her episodic writing Emma has original projects in development with The Forge, Firebird and Studio Lambert. She was part of the BBC Writers Academy with John Yorke and also wrote a pilot as part of the BBC Drama room.

Jamie Davis

Jamie Davis is the Writer and Creator of the ITV series ‘YOU & ME’ (Executive Produced by Russell T Davies). Jamie began his career as an actor appearing in a wide range of television programmes and on stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company. As a writer, Jamie was part of the 2021 BBC Writers Academy and has since worked on Eastenders and Casualty. Jamie has a new series currently in development with Happy Prince/ITV.

Matt Evans

Matt recently co-created, wrote and executive produced the acclaimed teen drama PHOENIX RISE for BBC3. Since graduating from the first BBC Writers Academy in 2006, his numerous credits include A TOWN CALLED MALICE, A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, RIVIERA, OUR GIRL and ACKLEY BRIDGE. He was a core writer on EASTENDERS for over 10 years, writing over 120 episodes. He also co-created BBC Northern Ireland’s hit drama series 6 DEGREES and has been nominated for numerous BAFTA and RTS awards.

Matthew Barry

Matthew is a Welsh screenwriter and executive producer living in London and Los Angeles. He is an alumni of the BBC Writers' Academy, was voted a Broadcast Hot Shot in 2011, and was a recipient of the BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy Award in 2012. He created and wrote PERFECT SUMMER which was nominated for a BAFTA Wales Best Youth Series Award. His original drama, Men Up, will air on BBC One in December 2023. Other credits include Dope Girls, Industry, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (3 seasons), EastEnders, Waterloo Road, Casualty (including 30th anniversary special), Stella, Banana and Death in Paradise. He is currently developing projects with Quay Street Productions, Bad Wolf, Berlanti/Warners, and Big Light/HBO.

Rachel Flowerday

Rachel began her BBC career on the Writers’ Academy scheme, and subsequently won coveted places on the core writing teams of both EastEnders and Casualty. The Academy was also the springboard for Rachel’s two enormously successful writing partnerships – with Tahsin Guner (with whom she created the global hit Father Brown for BBC1, now shooting its eleventh series), and Sasha Hails (with whom Rachel created and wrote BBC1’s critically-acclaimed adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, and CBBC’s hit adaptation of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers, now in its fifth series). As a solo writer, Rachel has written for Marcella, Whitstable Pearl and thriller Sanctuary, alongside developing original projects for ITV and UKTV.

Rob Williams

Rob Williams was Creative Director at Penguin Books before joining the BBC Writers Academy in 2008 and writing on all of their continuing drama series.  He created a 4-part drama CHASING SHADOWS for ITV and contributed to DCI BANKS (Leftbank) and 2 series of THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (Amazon).   After writing and storylining on the first series of KILLING EVE (BBC), Rob created, wrote and executive produced a 4-part drama THE VICTIM for BBC1, which was nominated for a BAFTA in 2020.  In 2022, he showran Apple TV + drama SUSPICION, starring Uma Thurman based on the Keshet format “False Flag”. He also created and wrote the acclaimed prison-drama SCREW (STV/Ch.4) – Series 2 will be transmitted in September 2023.  Rob is currently developing projects with Made Up Stories, Quay Street Productions, STV, Element Productions and Two Cities TV.

Tahsin Guner

Tahsin wrote the award-winning factual drama Killed By My Debt for BBC Three which won BAFTA and RTS awards (Best Single Drama) and two Broadcast Awards (Best Single Drama and best multi-channel Programme).

He co-developed the BBC's Father Brown series alongside Rachel Flowerday and has written episodes for each series. In 2018 he became one of 18 writers selected for BAFTA Elevate - a scheme made for advancing the career of experienced writers. He has several original projects and adaptations in development.