Jed Mercurio

Gerald Gary "Jed" Mercurio (born September 1966) is a British television writer, producer, director and novelist. A former hospital doctor and Royal Air Force officer, Mercurio has been ranked among UK television's leading writers. In 2017, Mercurio was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Television Society and the Baird Medal by RTS Midlands. His works for television include the series Line of Duty, Bodyguard, Bodies (based on his 2002 novel), The Grimleys, and Cardiac Arrest. His books are Bodies (2002), Ascent (2007), American Adulterer (2009) and, for children, The Penguin Expedition (2003). Early life Mercurio was born in Nelson, Lancashire, but grew up in Cannock, Staffordshire. His parents were Italian immigrants, with his father working as a coal miner. He studied at the University of Birmingham Medical School. During his third year, in August 1988, he was commissioned as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force Medical Branch. He received flying training with the University Air Squadron, with the intention of specialising in aviation medicine. He was promoted to flying officer in June 1991, but resigned his commission in February 1992. During practice as a hospital physician, Mercurio answered an advertisement in the British Medical Journal and, despite little writing experience, scripted the BBC medical drama Cardiac Arrest under the pseudonym John MacUre. Subsequently he retired from medicine to pursue a writing career under his own name.