With World Book Day just around the corner, we spoke to Ashley Pharoah who shared his writing tips to help our pupils ahead of the school's writing competition for World Book Day. 

Ashley was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School, Bristol, and the University Of Sussex, where he read English. He studied screenwriting at The National Film And Television School, where his graduation film Water’s Edge was nominated for a BAFTA. After cutting his teeth on Eastenders, Ashley created Where The Heart Is for ITV, a series that ran for over ten years. Other series that Ashley created and wrote during this time include Paradise Heights, Down To Earth, Life Support, Bonekickers and Anchor Me.  

Classic adaptations include Tom Brown’s Schooldays (starring Stephen Fry and Alex Pettyfer), Under the Greenwood Tree (starring Keeley Hawes), and Moonfleet (starring Ray Winstone). Contemporary adaptations include Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories starring Jason Isaacs.  

Ashley co-created Life on Mars and its sequel, Ashes To Ashes, winning two International Emmys. There was a series about misbehaving angels for ITV - Eternal Law - and the long-running saga of a family trying to make a go of it on a South African game farm, Wild At Heart.  

Ashley wrote and produced The Living And The Dead, set in rural Somerset in 1894, about a man of science who starts to see ghosts. It starred Colin Morgan and Charlotte Spencer.  

His reimagining of Around The World In Eighty Days, starring David Tennant, was filmed in Bucharest and Cape Town was screened Christmas 2021.  

In 2011 Ashley was made an Honorary Fellow of The National Film And Television School "in recognition of outstanding contribution to the British film and television industry". In a ceremony at Bath Abbey in 2016, Ashley was made a Doctor of Letters by Bath Spa University for his contribution to screenwriting and television production. 

Ashley’s 3 tips:  

1. Read!

All writers start out as avid readers 

2. Write!

You can only get better if you actually do it. Stories, poems, diaries. Write! 

3. Trust your own life as the source of your material.

You are unique. Not the same advice as “Write What You Know”, this is more about making your writing feel authentic because you know who and what you’re writing about. 

A huge thank you to Ashley for getting involved and sharing his tips. If you want to hear more from Ashley, make sure to follow him on Twitter @AJPharoah. 

We also spoke to writers Martin Bright, Adam Macqueen, and James Bailey. We will be sharing their tips soon -- watch this space!