My earliest influences of television dramas, that fuelled my desire for writing were: ‘Widows’ by Lynda la Plante, ‘Dynasty’ and although remembered for its theatrical portrayal of life inside a woman’s prison: ‘Prisoner - Cell Block H’ by Reg Grundy. My writing concentrates mainly on tough, successful, powerful and determined women, who will stop at nothing to get where they want to be in life. Thatch Close is aimed at a target audience of 15-35 due to some of the nature of the characters and some of the storylines. Currently there are 14 full and edited episodes. Over the last six years Thatch Close has been my main project to fully occupy my time. I film on a DV camera, write the scripts, build the puppets and the sets since 2004.
I’ve also played the voice over for much of the production process with a little help from my close friends. The original idea for the series began in 1994 when I was at school. A decade later I rewrote the scripts and began filming again. The overall concept remains the same today.
I made the puppets and sets for a short monster film called 'Cthulhu' in 2008, whilst still filming and editing Thatch Close. This was written and filmed by Anthony Carpendale from 'Subterranean films'.
Deirdre Fisher (Comedy Sketch Character) 2005Separate to the character in Thatch Close, Deirdre Fisher was a comedy character I created from 2003-2004 and I played the role. Deirdre’s a farmer’s wife and lives on a farm. She is tatty and dirty in her appearance, presenting her own food and cookery program. She has a strong country accent; viewers are sickened by her bad hygiene and extremely bad cooking.
'Women on Top' (Drama Series) 2002 was based on tough, successful, powerful women who worked together in a shares company in a huge city sky scraper. The women were all fighting for top positions in the work place and lived the high life in the expensive part of the city, the storylines involved: blackmail, love affairs and greed to name but a few.
'So us, So us' (Pop Song) 2001The theme tune to Thatch Close ‘So us, So us’ was written, performed and sung by myself. It was finalised in a recording studio in 2001.
Putting the Past Behind Me (autobiography) 2000 My autobiography reveals all my secrets and looks back at my past. There are good and bad times. It dates from my earliest memories of the early eighties up until 2004. This autobiography of my life is presented with a no holds barred policy!
Shush! (Solo Pop Artist) 1999Enter Shush! I was a Solo Pop Artist and called myself Shush! (As in be quiet, it’s all about me now) I did various venues in the Brighton area. I had a photo shoot taken and I sang 'So us, So us' the theme to Thatch Close and the other two songs I had completed at the recording studio 'Don’t Need This Anymore' in 1998 and 'Two Together' 1999. My backing vocals on both tracks were sung by Sharon Woolf, who sang the Number one hit Sweet like Chocolate by Shanks & Bigfoot and also Straight from the Heart by Doolally. Later in the year I completed another pop track called 'Take Me in Your Arms''
The Land Of Other Living' (Short Children’s Film) 1999The story of a young girl called Poppy, who has a rather outlandish imagination. She falls asleep one night and wakes up in the Land of Other Living, an adventure begins and she is sent on a quest to free the beautiful princess Elena Swan and stop the wicked witch from turning the rest of the land evil, with her wicked sorcery. She meets a few friends that are willing to lend a helping hand along the way, including a tropical fish with large feet and a robot called Zeeco. This short film showed how I had progressed with my filming and my use of clay rather than plastercine for the characters.
'The Hell Block H' (Comedy Series) 1998. Still feeling I hadn’t quiet put a lid on the comedy ‘The Hell Block H Series’ I decided to make a puppet series and film each episode. I made all the sets of the prison and all the inmates and wardens. A few friends helped with the voice overs.
Glyndebourne Opera House (props department) 1997. Having played my acting role as one of Oberon’s elves in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ back in 1988, I ventured behind the scenes at the props department for the Glyndebourne Opera House, asking to help them out for a few weeks. I made pigeons out of polystyrene blocks and huge life size trees for the stage.
'Matilda' (series) 1996. This was a spin-off series to 'Smelly Ann'. Ann had a child which she named Matilda. Matilda is the main character and continues in her Mother’s footsteps. The characters were made from plastercine and the sets were made from cardboard.
Penny Rose (Comedy Sketch Character) 1996-2003. Penny Rose was a comedy character I created and played the role. She was in the public eye for her fashion design and having gate-crashed many celebrity bashes, sweeping up more names than drinking the champagne. Penny loves to promote new fashion accessories. She also has a mystical side to her, it’s not too long before viewers realise she’s become famous for being absolutely potty, she’s become a fashion icon for literally throwing anything on and having the nerve to parade it in front of the media. She can’t string a sentence together and the media have begun to make a clown of her, which she plays to perfection. Don’t get her started on names of types of stones and crystals or makes of watches, or you’ll be stuck with her all day.
'The Hell Block H' (Fanzine) 1995. Named after the Australian cult television series ‘Prisoner: Cell Block H’, The Hell Block H was a monthly fanzine for the fans of the series. Its features included: G’day (the latest updates and news page), Star profiles, episode guides, Interviews with the stars, prisoner and officer files, The Hell Block H Series’, Quizzes, Ask Daz page? (Where the fans could write in and ask me any question on the series).I wrote The Hell Block H Series from 1995-2000 which consisted of 100 episodes of a comedy version of ‘Prisoner’, I felt that from a comedy angle there were so many areas to explore in a women’s prison so I did. I would later go on to make a series with the sets and puppets in the form of episodes.
'Smelly Ann' (series) 1994. 'Smelly Ann' was a series I wrote in 1994 about a deprived child with an alcoholic Mother. She was always getting herself in trouble and her Mother and Father often beat her as a punishment. The series was recorded on a hi8 camcorder. The characters were made from plastercine. Smelly Ann was my first attempt of writing my own series. The idea came to me, after finishing my own alternative version and ending of The Diary of Ann Frank in my English lessons at school. I had turned the story into a 1990’s video nasty, or so my teacher stated and marked my story a 10/10 for effort.
'A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM' (Shakespeare) 1988This was my first acting role. I was one of Oberon’s elves in Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Glyndebourne Opera House. Me (on the left) as an elf in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ 1988.
