David Ashton

Born: 1941 in Greenock, Scotland
First Book: The Shadow of the Serpent (Polygon 2006)
Awards: Radio Times Drama award for The Old Ladies at the Zoo, 1985

David Ashton was a fan of the arts from a very early age. His mother worked as an usherette in the local cinema, so he was able to watch three films a week and eat as much popcorn as he liked. Later, he trod the boards with the local amateur drama group while holding down a job in a bank for five years. However, he fell asleep at the bank counter one day and was politely asked to pursue his creative career at someone else’s expense.

He went on to study at the Central Drama School in London in 1964–67 and subsequently had various acting jobs. His acting career spans theatre, TV and film and includes roles in Coronation Street, Doctor Who, Sea of Souls and Monarch of the Glen, with recent appearances in The Last King of Scotland as the father of young idealistic Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan and in the BBC series New Tricks.

David’s writing career began in radio in 1984. Shortly after, he won the Radio Times Drama award for his play The Old Ladies at the Zoo in 1985. To date, David has written more than a dozen radio plays for the BBC.

The McLevy series, starring Brian Cox, was born in 2000, airing at Christmas time on Radio 4. Seven series have now been broadcast, as well as a special one-off Christmas 2006 episode. David Ashton is now adapting the series into novels, the first of which, Shadow of the Serpent , was published by Polygon in 2006; the second, Fall from Grace , in June 2007 and the third, A Trick of the Light, in October 2009. Below, David talks about the creative process and his hero, Inspector James McLevy.

David Ashton has also written for television, including episodes of the popular detective series Dalziel and Pascoe, the hospital drama Casualty and early episodes of Eastenders.

David lives in London with his family. For more information on the multitalented David go to www.david-ashton.co.uk.