Troy Kennedy Martin

by Lez Cooke, Jonathan Bignell (Series Editor), Sarah Cardwell (Series Editor)

This is the first full-length study of the screenwriter Troy Kennedy Martin, whose work for film and television includes Z Cars, The Italian Job, Kelly’s Heroes, The Sweeney, Reilly – Ace of Spies and Edge of Darkness. With a career spanning six decades, Troy Kennedy Martin has seen the rise and fall of the television dramatist, making his debut in the era of studio-based television drama in the late 1950s prior to the transition to filmed drama (for which he argued in a famous manifesto), as the television play was gradually replaced by popular series and serials, for which Kennedy Martin did some of his best work.

Written in an easily accessible style, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in television drama, screenwriting, and the history of British television over the last fifty years.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2007

Reviews

[Roger Cottrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used one of Lez Cooke's article on Troy Kennedy Martin for my PHD chapter on EDGE OF DARKNESS and was told by my PHD external examiner (STEVE CHIBNALL, DE MONTFORD UNIVERSITY LEICESTER and author of "Get Carter") that Cooke was working on a book about Troy Kennedy Martin. I like Cooke's use of what I call accessible academic prose and the book tells us what we already know - that TKM was one of the best film and TV script writers ever. Too bad that he's hung up his spurs but you were the greatest, man