John Fay (writer)

Fay has written two episodes of the Jimmy McGovern drama Moving On, Sauce for the Goose – the first episode of the second series, and an episode of the third series, airing Autumn 2011, which he also directed. He also contributed to the period drama Medici: Masters of Florence.

Russell T Davies, having been an admirer of John Fay's work on Coronation Street and Mobile, approached Fay to write for the third series of Torchwood. Fay wrote two episodes of the award-winning third series of Torchwood, subtitled Children of Earth, which aired 7 and 9 July 2009. He returned to write the ninth episode of the shows' fourth series, Torchwood: Miracle Day a collaboration between BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide and US cable channel Starz. In 2011 he also wrote for the fourth series of Primeval. He was to write an episode of Doctor Who, but this fell through.

Fay began his television career on Brookside, although he states in an interview that it took him 16 years and several speculative scripts to get taken on to the writing staff full-time. He stayed on the creative team for two years, writing 54 episodes, before joining the writing staff of Coronation Street, writing 94 episodes and becoming lead writer. In 2005 he received the British Academy Television Award for Best Continuing Drama, sharing the BAFTA with Coronation Street producer Tony Wood and director Ian Bevitt. One of his notable scripts for Coronation Street was "Richard Hillman's murder confession" which attracted over 19 million viewers. Fay's other television contributions include episodes of Clocking Off, Blue Murder and Robin Hood. In 2007, Fay created the three-part ITV drama series Mobile. Fay is a self-confessed hater of mobile telephones and in Mobile chose to explore the themes of "people's paranoid desire to always be in contact with each other" and whether mobile phones are actually necessary.