Michael Hirst (writer)

• 1. Introduction

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  Michael Hirst was born on the 21st of September 1952 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, and he would go on to reshape how television tells stories about history. Before he put pen to paper on Henry VIII or Viking raiders, a chance encounter with the director Nicolas Roeg set his entire career in motion. Roeg read one of Hirst's short stories and asked him to write screenplays. That single invitation pulled Hirst away from the academic path he had been heading toward and pointed him toward a career spanning film and television across four decades. What made a literature scholar from Bradford the person behind some of the most-watched historical dramas ever made? And why do his projects keep circling kings, conquerors, and the families who shape empires?

• 2. The Education of a Storyteller

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  Bradford Grammar School in West Yorkshire gave Hirst his early formation, followed by studies at the London School of Economics. He earned a First Class Joint-Honours Degree in English and American Literature from the University of Nottingham. He then studied the writings of Henry James at Trinity College, Oxford. That concentration on a novelist famous for interior psychology and moral ambiguity left a mark on how Hirst would later approach historical figures. He was on track to become an academic. The detour came when Nicolas Roeg entered the picture, read a short story Hirst had written, and asked him to write screenplays instead.

• 3. Elizabeth and Historical Cinema

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  The 1998 film Elizabeth put Hirst in front of a global audience. He returned to the same reign nearly a decade later with Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2007, on which he also served as executive producer. Between those two films, Hirst built his reputation as a writer willing to bring the emotional interior of historical figures to the screen. He was also chosen to write the movie adaptation of Stuart Hill's best-selling book The Cry of the Icemark before that project was put on hold. He is also set to adapt Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt, which follows King Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt. Hirst co-wrote the screenplay for the James Dalessandro book 1906, a story about a young man uncovering secrets that left San Francisco vulnerable to the fires following the 1906 earthquake; Brad Bird directed, and it was released in 2012.

• 4. The Tudors and Television Drama

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  The Tudors premiered on Showtime in 2007, and Hirst served as head writer, creator, and executive producer throughout its run until 2010. He wrote all 38 episodes and executive produced 32 of them. The series told the story of King Henry VIII, his six wives, his court, and the dilemmas running through his kingdom. While The Tudors was still running, Hirst co-produced the series Camelot with Chris Chibnall for Starz in 2011, creating and executive producing all 10 episodes and writing the story for the episode titled "Homecoming". Hirst also produced The Borgias for Showtime, a drama about the notorious Borgia family created by Neil Jordan, with filming beginning in the summer of 2010. That show stars Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI in his first series-regular role and ran for three seasons.

• 5. Vikings and a Franchise Built

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  Vikings premiered in 2013 as the History Channel's first foray into serialised drama. Hirst wrote and executive produced all 89 episodes of the series, which ran until 2020. The cast includes Gabriel Byrne, Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, Katheryn Winnick, Jessalyn Gilsig, and Gustaf Skarsgård. In 2019, Hirst began working with writer Jeb Stuart on a sequel called Vikings: Valhalla, set approximately 100 years after the events of the original series. That show was released on Netflix in 2022. Hirst's daughters Maude and Georgia both appeared in Vikings; Maude also appeared in The Tudors. A further project called Bloodaxe is currently in production for Amazon Prime, filming in Ireland, which suggests Hirst's engagement with the Norse world is not yet finished.

• 6. Projects in the Pipeline

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  In 2021, the series Billy the Kid was acquired by Epix, with Hirst as writer and executive producer. It premiered in 2022 and ran through 2025. Hirst had also been developing a feature film about Mary Queen of Scots with Working Title Films, intended to star Saoirse Ronan. That project moved forward without his involvement and was eventually released in 2018, written by Beau Willimon and directed by Josie Rourke. Hirst launched Green Pavilion Entertainment, his own production company, in December 2017, giving him an institutional base for future projects. Bloodaxe, in production for Amazon Prime and filming in Ireland, remains the most visible of his active commitments.