Neil Forsyth

Neil Forsyth is an award-winning screenwriter and author. In television, he is a multiple BAFTA and Royal Television Society Award winner and has created a number of critically and commercially successful shows.

His first show, Bob Servant for BBC Television, saw the eponymous role played by Brian Cox. The show ran for two series, won the Royal Television Society Scotland Award for Comedy and was nominated for the Scottish Comedy BAFTA.

Neil has written four SKY Arts Playhouses: Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon starring Brian Cox, Stockard Channing, Joseph Fiennes and Carrie Fisher. Waiting for Andre about the real-life friendship between Samuel Beckett and Andre The Giant, for which Neil was nominated for the Writers Guild Short Drama Award. Mick and Margaret, starring Kelly Macdonald, about the long friendship between Mick Jagger and Princess Margaret. And 13.7.85: Backstage at Live Aid which stars a wide ensemble of leading British comedy actors.

Neil’s one-off BBC4 drama Eric, Ernie and Me told the story of Morecambe and Wise writer Eddie Braben. Eric, Ernie and Me was nominated for Best Short Form Drama in the 2018 Broadcast Press Guild Awards.

His original 4-part series Guilt (produced by Happy Tramp/Expectation) starring Mark Bonar and Jamie Sives is widely regarded as one of the best Scottish TV dramas of all time and won a large number of awards including multiple Scottish BAFTAs.

Neil’s BBC1 drama The Gold, a dramatization of the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery and its aftermath, was a popular and critical hit. The most successful BBC drama launch of the year, it was nominated for Best Drama at the BAFTA Television Awards. A second series is due in 2025.

Neil’s debut feature script, Dance First, a Samuel Beckett biopic was directed by James Marsh and starred Gabriel Byrne, Aidan Gillen, Maxine Peake and Sandrine Bonnaire.

Before writing for television, Neil worked as a journalist and has authored seven books: Other People’s Money, the biography of Scottish credit card fraudster Elliot Castor (currently being developed as a feature film), two well-received novels, the UK bestselling series of Bob Servant humour titles and The Gold, a tie-in book to the BBC drama series.