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 wanted. 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 a recent brief appearance in The Last King of Scotland as the father of young idealistic Scottish doctor, Nicholas Garrigan.

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. Five 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 and the second of which, Fall from Grace is due in June 2007.

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.

He is currently living in London and working on the next McLevy mystery, and adapting the entire series into a single film plot starring Brian Cox for SMG/ITV.