Maureen Chadwick

Maureen Chadwick is a British screenwriter, dramatist and television producer responsible, alone and with her writing partner Ann McManus, for a number of popular award-winning and sometimes controversial British television series including Bad Girls (1999–2006), Footballers' Wives (2002–2006) and Waterloo Road (2006–2015, 2023–present). With McManus she wrote the book for the stage musical Bad Girls: The Musical (2006–2007). She was a co-founder and creative director of the independent television production company Shed Productions (1998–2010). She is now a freelance writer. Early life Chadwick was born in Aldershot in Hampshire. In her home town 'Chad' Chadwick attended East End Junior School and the all-girls Aldershot County High School where she developed an interest in art and in stage production. Deciding to be a painter, she attended the University of Edinburgh, but, as this was the time the Gay Liberation Front was being launched, she left after two months and returned home to be nearer London, joining Farnham School of Art in nearby Farnham, Surrey. Whilst there she visited The Gateways, a lesbian club in Chelsea made famous in the film The Killing of Sister George (1968), one of the earliest mainstream films to feature lesbianism. For many women, including Chadwick, a visit to the Gateways was their first introduction to lesbian life. In 1971, after her third attempt, Chadwick finally got in when she realised she had to apply for membership, having the necessary admission card sent to her at the art college she was attending rather than the parental home: In her early 20s Chadwick moved to Bristol and became an active member of the Women’s Liberation Movement there. She gained a post as a data-processing librarian, where, finding she had a great deal of time on her hands, she started to write scripts, eventually getting an agent and commencing her writing career. Writer and producer Chadwick's first writing commissions were for the BBC medical drama Angels. Her first solo project was the BBC Play For Today Watch With Mother starring Annette Crosbie and Barbara Ewing in 1988. Her BBC Screen One film Two Golden Balls aired in 1994, starring Kim Cattrall. She has also written for various other television series including the poorly-received Eldorado for the BBC; 36 episodes of Coronation Street (1997-1999), and one episode of EastEnders (1987).