Sarah Phelps

Sarah Phelps is a British television screenwriter, radio writer, playwright and television producer. She is best known for her work on EastEnders, a number of BBC serial adaptations including Agatha Christie's The Witness For the Prosecution, And Then There Were None, Ordeal by Innocence, The ABC Murders and The Pale Horse; Charles Dickens's Great Expectations and Oliver Twist; and J. K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy,^[1] and work with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Career[]

Phelps has written over 50 episodes of EastEnders, including the return of Den Watts and his final demise, less than two years later. She wrote the screenplay for the BBC's 2011 Christmas costume drama adaptation Great Expectations^[2] and the World War One drama series The Crimson Field. The show was cancelled after one series due to middling ratings.^[3]

In 2015, a television adaptation of J. K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy was written by Phelps.^[4]

Christie adaptations[]

In 2015, Phelps' adaptation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None was broadcast.^[5] Reviewing it for The Daily Telegraph, Tim Martin found that, "The final episode of this bloody adaptation by Sarah Phelps did splendid justice to Christie's lightless universe, presenting an isolated mansion full of leaking corpses, in which the characters – quite understandably – freaked out in ways that no previous adaptation has countenanced."^[6] Martin went on to note, "All this couldn't have been further from the teasing restraint of classic adaptations such as René Clair's celebrated Hollywood version from 1945. But Phelps's version felt closer both to the cruelty of Christie's original and to its dramatic intentions. Clair chose to sacrifice the book's murder-suicide conclusion in favour of a romantic clinch, while Christie herself had already ditched it for her stage adaptation in 1943. Phelps kept it in, and this brave decision allowed her adaptation to preserve its cheerless emotional contract with the viewer ... [C]lassily photographed in low light, moonlight and candlelight, and with strong performances from the weighty ensemble cast throughout, it made a strong case for Phelps (best known for her TV adaptations of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations) to be put on seasonal murder duty at the BBC every year."^[6]

In 2016 The Witness For the Prosecution went to air, with a script based on the original short story rather than the later play on which other screen adaptations have been based.^[7]

In April 2018, another of Agatha Christie's novels adapted by Phelps was broadcast on BBC One. Ordeal by Innocence had been pulled from the Christmas scheduling on BBC one after one of the leading actors in the drama miniseries was accused of sexual assault. The programme was re-shot with a new actor, Christian Cooke, replacing Ed Westwick.^[8]

In June 2018 it was announced that the BBC were filming a Phelps adaptation of Agatha Christie’s ABC Murders starring John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot.^[9] In June 2019 it was announced that Phelps would write an adaptation of The Pale Horse.^[10]

Filmography[]

Other work[]

Phelps' radio work includes Vital Signs II, Cardamom, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and The Compass Rose: A Tattoo Lexicon. Phelps also wrote for the World Service Soap opera Westway before joining the BBC in 2002. Her theatre projects include Tube, Angela Carter, The Subtle Art of Boiling Lobsters, Amaretti Angels and Modern Dance for Beginners.^[11]

Sarah has appeared on a number of podcasts including The QuaranTea Break Podcast^[12] with Simon Ward, The Graham Norton Podcast,^[13] My Inspiration Podcast^[14] and Always There.^[15]

References[]

External links[]

• Sarah Phelps at IMDb
• Sarah Phelps's agency CV
• BBC Writersroom interview