Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Personal life

Frank Boyce was born in 1959 in Bootle near Liverpool to a Catholic family. He moved to Rainhill, while still at primary school. He attended St Bartholomew's Primary School in Rainhill and West Park Grammar School.

He read English at Keble College, Oxford, where he went on to earn a doctorate. He wrote criticism for the magazine Living Marxism. As a result, there was supposedly always a copy of the magazine on sale in the newsagent set of long-running British soap Coronation Street, while Cottrell-Boyce was on the writing staff of that programme.

He met Denise Cottrell, a fellow Keble undergraduate, and they married in Keble College chapel; they combined their surnames. Together they have seven children. He is also a patron of the Insight Film Festival, a biennial, interfaith festival held in Manchester, UK, to make positive contributions to understanding, respect and community cohesion.

Aidan Cottrell-Boyce, one of the couple's sons, is also a writer.

Career

He was a leading light in the Liverpool band "Dead Trout" in 1979.

After he met Michael Winterbottom, the two collaborated on Forget About Me. Winterbottom made five further films based on screenplays written by Cottrell-Boyce, Butterfly Kiss, Welcome to Sarajevo, The Claim, 24 Hour Party People and Code 46. Their 2005 collaboration, A Cock and Bull Story, is their last according to Cottrell-Boyce, who asked that his contribution be credited to "Martin Hardy", a pseudonym. He told Variety, "I just had to move on ... what better way to walk away than by giving Winterbottom a good script for free?"

Other film directors Cottrell-Boyce has worked with include Danny Boyle (Millions), Alex Cox (Revengers Tragedy), Richard Laxton (Grow Your Own) and Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie).

Cottrell-Boyce has been praised by Roger Ebert as one of the few truly inventive modern-day screenwriters. He has spoken against the "three-act structure" and the "hero's journey" formulas, which are often regarded as axiomatic truths in the business. Perhaps his most famous example of this is in 24 Hour Party People where the character of Anthony Wilson states that "Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. This is Manchester. We do things differently. This is the second act" which Cottrell-Boyce has stated was due to criticism of the script not following the three act structure.

In addition to original scripts, Cottrell-Boyce has also adapted novels for the screen and written children's fiction. His first novel Millions was based on his own screenplay for the film of the same name; it was published by Macmillan in 2004. Cottrell-Boyce won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising it as the year's best children's book published in the U.K. which was published in October 2011 as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again. In addition to Coronation Street, he wrote many episodes of the soap opera Brookside, as well as its spin-offs Damon and Debbie and South.

He wrote and staged his first original theatre production Proper Clever at the Liverpool Playhouse during the city's European Capital of Culture Year, in 2008. On 18 September 2010, he co-presented the Papal Visit at Hyde Park with TV personality Carol Vorderman. In June 2012, he assumed the position of Professor of Reading (the first such professorship) at Liverpool Hope University.

Cottrell-Boyce was the writer of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, whose storyline he based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. He collaborated with director Danny Boyle and other members of the creative team, including designer Mark Tildesley, in the development of the story and themes, and wrote "short documents that told the story of each segment" to provide context for choreographers, builders and other participants. He also wrote the brochure, the stadium announcements and the media guide for presenter Huw Edwards.

Three months later, Cottrell-Boyce won the 2012 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for The Unforgotten Coat. That story of a crosscultural friendship was inspired by a Mongolian girl he met as a writer visiting her school, whose family was subsequently deported by the British immigration office. It was commissioned by Reader Organisation of Liverpool and 50,000 copies were given away. The Guardian Prize is judged by a panel of British children's writers and recognises the year's best book by an author who has not yet won it. Interviewed by the sponsoring newspaper, Cottrell-Boyce told The Guardian that "I'm definitely a children's writer[;] that's what I want to be. I'm always trying to get rid of everything else. ... The movies I'm doing are ones that have been on the blocks for a long time."

Cottrell-Boyce was made an Honorary Doctor of Literature at Edge Hill University on 16 July 2013. In 2014, Cottrell-Boyce wrote an episode of Doctor Who, titled "In the Forest of the Night". He also wrote the second episode of the tenth series, "Smile". In September 2015, Cottrell-Boyce held the keynote speech at the Children's and Young Adult Program of the 15th Berlin International Literature Festival.

In January 2018, he was on the victorious Keble College, Oxford University Challenge "famous alumni" team; he got almost all of the points scored by Keble (total score 240) and was lionized on social media as a consequence; Reading University scored 0 in that game, thus making television history.

Cottrell-Boyce is an advocate for reading aloud and patron of The Reader Organisation. a charity that works through volunteers to bring literature to everyone, through reading aloud in prisons, care homes and other community spaces. In July 2024 he was appointed as Children's Laureate for the term 2024 to 2026, succeeding Joseph Coelho.

Novels

• Millions (2004)
• Framed (2005)
• Cosmic (2008)
• Desirable (2008)
• The Unforgotten Coat (2011)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (2011)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time (2012)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Over the Moon (2013)
• The Astounding Broccoli Boy (2015)
• Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth (2016)
• Runaway Robot (2019)
• Noah's Gold (2021)

Appearances

• March 2010 – Desert Island Discs
• December 2017 and 2025 - University Challenge

Writing credits

Television

Film

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 2004: Buch des Monats des Instituts für Jugendliteratur/Book of the Month by the Institute for Youth Literature (Germany), Millions
• 2004: Carnegie Medal, Millions
• 2004: Luchs des Jahres (Germany), Millions
• 2004: Eule des Monats (Germany), Millions
• 2005: Branford Boase Award, shortlist, Millions
• 2005: Carnegie Medal, shortlist, Framed
• 2006: Die besten 7 (Germany), Framed
• 2008: Guardian Prize, shortlist, Cosmic
• 2009: Carnegie Medal, shortlist, Cosmic
• 2011: Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award, Honors, Cosmic
• 2011: Costa Book Awards, shortlist, The Unforgotten Coat
• 2012: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

References

References

1. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/oct/26/frank-cottrell-boyce-life-in-writing
2. "Cottrell-Boyce".
3. "COTTRELL-BOYCE, Frank", ''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 2009 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U250299]. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
4. Kilmurray, Andrew. (2012-08-02). "Frank Cottrell-Boyce: 'St Helens' DNA was woven into Olympic Games Opening Ceremony'". Times Online.
5. Craig, Amanda. (2008-06-06). "Screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce's new children's book Cosmic is his best yet. Amanda Craig meets him". Times Online.
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8. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/oct/26/frank-cottrell-boyce-life-in-writing
9. (27 May 2010). "Harper Collins Authors & Illustrators: Frank Cottrell-Boyce biography". Harpercollinschildrens.com.
10. "People - Insight Film Festival - Faith in Film".
11. [http://www.creativetimes.co.uk/articles/5-questions-with-john-forrest-founder-director-of-insight-film-festival 'Five questions with… John Forresst, ''Creative Times'', 6 March 2013] {{webarchive. link. (4 December 2013)
12. Bowman, Jamie. (2015-03-27). "Merseyside author's son reveals bid to become MP".
13. Dawtrey, Adam. "Phantom scribe gets BIFA nom".
14. (9 November 2008). "How to write a screenplay". rogerebert.com.
15. (19 August 2021). "@hobopop @sharpegirl The line comes half way through. "Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American l…".
16. Brown, Mark. (23 March 2011). "Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to fly again". The Guardian.
17. Lacey, Josh. (15 October 2011). "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce – review". The Guardian.
18. Martin Wainwright. (18 June 2012). "Cosmic professor". The Guardian.
19. Frank Cottrell Boyce. (2012-07-29). "The night we saw our mad, fantastical dreams come true". The Observer.
20. Cottrell Boyce, Frank. (2012-07-28). "An Interview with Frank Cottrell Boyce". [[Today (BBC Radio 4).
21. (16 July 2013). "GFrank Cottrell-Boyce receives honorary award".
22. Fullerton, Huw. (14 June 2016). "Matt Lucas returns to Doctor Who for series 10".
23. "Children´s and Young Adult Program – internationales literaturfestival berlin".
24. Smyth, Chris. (2018). "Universally challenged: Reading alumni team gets zero". [[The Times]].
25. (10 May 2019). "Frank Cottrell Boyce - reading aloud".
26. [[Walker Books]] {{ISBN. 978-1-4063-3385-5
27. [[Macmillan Publishers. Macmillan Children's Books]] {{ISBN. 978-0-230-75773-8
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29. (2023-09-01). "Cottrell Boyce, Frank".
30. [http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/pressdesk/ Press Desk] {{Webarchive. link. (2 October 2018 (directory). CILIP. Retrieved 2012-08-18. Quote: "media releases relating to the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards in date order." (2002 to 2006 releases concern 2001 to 2005 awards.))