Jed Mercurio
Jed Mercurio, writer, director, novelist and creator of the TV dramas Line of Duty, Bodies and Cardiac Arrest, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.
Kirsty Young's castaway is Jed Mercurio. Creator of Line of Duty, and an award-winning TV writer, producer, director and novelist, he is one of the few British script-writers to work as an American-style show-runner. A former hospital doctor and RAF officer, he has been ranked among UK television's leading writers by TV industry magazine Broadcast.
His Italian parents moved to the UK after the Second World War and he was brought up in Cannock in the Midlands. Keen on science as a child, with dreams of becoming an astronaut, he studied medicine at Birmingham University. While there, he applied for the RAF medical doctor programme and learned to fly.
While he was working as a hospital doctor, he answered an advertisement in the British Medical Journal seeking advisors for a medical TV drama. Despite negligible writing experience, he went on to script the 91Èȱ¬ medical drama Cardiac Arrest. Its continuing success led him to leave medicine and embark on a successful career as a scriptwriter. His chief works for TV are the series Line of Duty, Bodies, The Grimleys and Cardiac Arrest. He's also written books: Bodies; Ascent; American Adulterer, and for children, The Penguin Expedition.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
Last on
Clip
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Jed Mercurio: ‘She said, Don’t let him die’
Duration: 02:39
Music Played
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Death in Vegas feat. Liam Gallagher
Scorpio Rising
- Scorpio Rising.
- Sony.
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Chris Isaak
Wicked Game
- Heart Shaped World.
- Reprise.
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Blondie
Hanging on the Telephone
- Parallel Lines.
- EMI.
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Nirvana
Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Nevermind.
- Polydor.
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Pearl Jam
Once
- Rearview Mirror.
- Epic Records.
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CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE
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The Sisters of Mercy
Nine While Nine
- First and Last and Always.
- Warner Music UK.
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The All Seeing I
1st Man in Space
- Pickled Eggs and Sherbert.
- London Records 90.
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The Sisters of Mercy
Lucretia My Reflection
- A Slight Case Of Overbombing: Greatest Hits Volume 1.
- Merciful Release.
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BOOK CHOICE
The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose
LUXURY ITEM
A telescope
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Kirsty Young |
Interviewed Guest | Jed Mercurio |
Producer | Cathy Drysdale |
Broadcasts
- Sun 18 Jun 2017 11:1591Èȱ¬ Radio 4 FM
- Fri 23 Jun 2017 09:0091Èȱ¬ Radio 4
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