Sophie Petzal

Having written comedy shorts as a child, Petzal first gained attention with her script, The God Committee, one of the winners of All Mixed Up, a competition run in conjunction with the Triforce Creative Network and BBC Comedy. The script secured her an agent.[1] While studying screenwriting at Bournemouth University, Petzal secured a place as a BBC Production Trainee. Her script Sanctioned won the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award at the International Emmys.[2]

Following a trainee placement at CBBC in script editing, she started writing for several CBBC shows, including Wolfblood, Hetty Feather, The Dumping Ground and Danger Mouse. She subsequently moved into hour-long drama, writing episodes of Jekyll and Hyde (produced by Foz Allen, who was also the producer on Wolfblood and Hetty Feather), Medici, The Last Kingdom and Riviera.[3]

In 2018, Petzal's first original TV drama series Blood, starring Adrian Dunbar and Carolina Main, aired on TV3 and Channel 5.[4] Her script for Blood won Best Long-Form Drama at the Writers' Guild Of Great Britain Awards.[5] It was renewed for a second series, which began broadcasting in April 2020. It was announced in February 2020 that Petzal was writing a four-part thriller for ITV, Hollington Drive.[6] It would start broadcast on 29 September, 2021.

On December 13, 2020, it was announced Petzal would helm an adaptation of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for Netflix.[7] On January 17, 2023, it was reported that after 2 years of development, Netflix had cancelled it. [8]

• Sophie Petzal at IMDb