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Chris Lang

This article is about the British actor, writer and producer. For the Australian politician, see Chris Lang (politician). For the New Zealand local rally driver, see Chris Lange.

Chris Lang (born 1961) is a British screenwriter, producer and actor. Lang has written for many British television series but is best known as the writer, creator and executive producer of Unforgotten.

Chris Lang
Lang in 2014
Lang in 2014
Born (1961-11-07) 7 November 1961 (age 63)
Lambeth, London, England
OccupationScreenwriter, television producer
NationalityBritish
Period1985–present
Notable worksThe Thief, His Wife and the Canoe (2022)

Amnesia (2004)
Torn (2007)
A Mother's Son (2012)
Undeniable (2014)
Unforgotten (2015– )
Innocent (2018- )

Dark Heart (2018)
Children5

Career

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Actor

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He trained at RADA, graduating in 1983, after winning the Royal Academy award for 'A Series of Outstanding Performances in the Vanbrugh Theatre'. As an actor he worked on such British television series as Shadow of the Noose, Drop the Dead Donkey, Outside Edge, A Dance to the Music of Time and All Along the Watchtower. In his youth, he formed a comedy revue called The Jockeys of Norfolk with Andy Taylor and Hugh Grant,[1] but stopped acting in the mid nineties in order to fully concentrate on his writing career.

Screenwriter

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Lang began his screenwriting career on The Bill, for which he wrote many episodes, and for which he won a Writer's Guild award. He went on to write episodes for shows including Casualty, Soldier Soldier, The Knock, POW, Primeval, Hustle and The Tunnel for Sky Atlantic. In 2001, he wrote and created his first original drama series 'The Glass', which starred John Thaw and Sarah Lancashire.[2] Since then some of his other original work has included Sirens, Unconditional Love, Amnesia (which was nominated for an Edgar Award),[3] Lawless, and The Reckoning.

The first series of Unforgotten starred Nicola Walker, Trevor Eve, Sir Tom Courtenay, Cherie Lunghi, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Gemma Jones, Hannah Gordon, Ruth Sheen and Bernard Hill, and was broadcast in Autumn 2015. Sir Tom Courtenay later won the 2016 BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his role,[4] and was nominated for a RTS award for his performance, while Nicola Walker was nominated at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for best actress.[5]

In November 2015, ITV announced it would be returning for a second series,[6] which aired in January 2017 to an audience of 7.29 million,[7] with the Daily Telegraph describing the series as 'The detective drama of the decade'.[8] In November 2017 Mark Bonnar won the 2017 Best Actor BAFTA Scotland for his portrayal of Colin Osborne in the series.[9] Bonnar also won best actor in the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2018.

In March 2017, ITV announced Unforgotten would return for a third series,[10] which aired in July 2018 and received universal critical acclaim, with The Observer asking 'How good is Unforgotten...one of our most human and humane cop shows', and The Guardian remarking that 'Unforgotten is once again superb....it's beautifully crafted and performed, tight, gripping, but also moving and so very human...there is no better drama on television.' The last episode was watched by over 7.5 million viewers, making it the most watched episode of all three series. Alex Jennings was later nominated by BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Tim Finch in the series.

In December 2018, The Hook Up Plan, an eight-part romantic comedy that Lang created and co-wrote, and which shot in Paris, aired on Netflix. It starred Zita Hanrot, Sabrina Ouazani, Joséphine Draï and Marc Ruchmann.[11] In February 2019 Netflix announced it would return for a second series which broadcast in 2020.

In October 2018, a new six-part drama called Dark Heart, which Lang wrote and executive produced, and which starred Tom Riley and Charlotte Riley broadcast in the UK with the 1st episode attracting an audience of 6.3 million.[12]

In February 2021 Unforgotten returned for a fourth series,[13] to universal critical acclaim and an average rating across the series of 9.5 million, up on series 3 by an average of 2.5 million per episode. It was nominated as best drama by both BAFTA and Royal Television Society. A few months later series 4 was broadcast in the states on PBS. Series 1-3 are currently playing around the world on Netflix, Amazon and Sky. It returned for a fifth series in February 2023 with Sinead Keenan now starring alongside Sanjeev Bhaskar and aired to a first episode audience of 8.4 million, making it the highest rated ITV programme of the year, and third most watched drama across all channels. Following broadcast, a 6th series was announced, which started shooting in the UK and Ireland in March 2024.

In the late noughties, he co-formed TXTV, through which he made much of his work, including Innocent, a four-part thriller starring Lee Ingleby, Hermione Norris, Nigel Lindsay and Angel Coulby.[14] which broadcast on 14–17 May 2018 to a consolidated first night audience of 8.05 million, making it the most watched new ITV drama of the year, with The Daily Express calling it - 'Spellbinding...the TV drama that has got the whole nation watching". Innocent returned for a second series which broadcast on Monday 17 May 2021 to an first night audience of 7.80 million.

Other TXTV shows include Undeniable, starring Peter Firth and Claire Goose,[15] which aired in April 2014, and was remade in France in February 2017, entitled 'Quand Je Serai Grande Je Te Tuerai' starring Laetitia Milot. Filmed on the Île de Ré it broadcast in France in late 2017 to an audience of seven million.[16] A Mother's Son starring Hermione Norris, Paul McGann and Martin Clunes (September 2012) which was nominated for a Broadcast Award,[17] and adapted as a single film for TF1 in France called 'Tu Es Mon Fils' (April 2015) and starring Anne Marivin.[18] 'Tu Es Mon Fils' later won best single film at the Polar de Cognac Film Festival.[19] Lang's series Torn, starring Holly Aird and Nicola Walker, was nominated for an RTS award.[20] and was also remade for French TV as 'Entre Deux Mères' It was shown at the Luchon Film and TV festival[21] and broadcast on TF1 on 27 March 2017. The French remake of his 2010 UK TXTV drama The Reckoning starred Odille Vuillemin and Thiery Neuvic and aired in September 2018. In January 2021 it was announced that Viaplay/Elisa were remaking A Mother's Son in Finland. Retitled 'Polanski Joel', it broadcast in mid 2022.

In April 2022, he saw the broadcast of The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe starring Monica Dolan and Eddie Marsan, the true story of John and Anne Darwin, which Lang wrote and for which he was the executive producer. It aired to a first episode audience of 10.01 million, making it the third most watched UK drama of the year. The series was selected for competition at the Geneva International Film Festival in November 2022 with Lang as a guest speaker and was nominated for 'Best serial' at the 'Broadcast Awards' 2022. It was also nominated as best mini series by BAFTA 2023 and by BPG 2023. Monica Dolan was also nominated for best actor Royal Television Society 2023. It was also nominated as best drama series at the Edinburgh TV Festival 2023.

In February 2024, Lang's new show 'I, Jack Wright' started shooting in the UK. Starring John Simm, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Gemma Jones, Daniel Rigby, James Fleet and Zoe Tapper, it will broadcast in early 2025. Lang will serve as creator, writer and executive producer.

Personal life

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Lang's first wife died by suicide in 2007.[22][23] Lang and his second wife share five children.[24]

He has said that underlying happiness is very little affected by career success.[25]

Selected work

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Awards and nominations

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Andy Taylor - British actor & Voice Over Artist". www.andyjt.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 October 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  2. ^ Flett, Kathryn (3 June 2001). "A touch of Glass". The Guardian.
  3. ^ "2005 Edgar Awards nominees". Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  4. ^ "2016 Television Supporting Actor | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  5. ^ "BPG Awards 2016 – Television nominations". www.broadcastingpressguild.org. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  6. ^ "ITV commissions a second series of Unforgotten". ITV Press Centre. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Weekly top 30 programmes | BARB". www.barb.co.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Death to serial killer thrillers: why the gently subversive Unforgotten is the best detective drama of the decade". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  9. ^ "British Academy Scotland Awards 2017: Winners Announced". www.bafta.org. 5 November 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  10. ^ "ITV confirms Unforgotten will return for a third series". RadioTimes. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  11. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (4 December 2017). "Netflix Falls For Paris-Set Romcom; Series To Be Helmed By Noemie Saglio". Deadline. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  12. ^ "ITV recommissions crime thriller Dark Heart starring Tom Riley". Press Centre. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  13. ^ "Press Releases". ITV Press Centre. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  14. ^ "Hermione Norris and Lee Ingleby lead the cast of new ITV drama Innocent". ITV Press Centre. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  15. ^ "Goose, Firth for ITV thriller Undeniable". Digital Spy. 1 November 2013.
  16. ^ lefigaro.fr (31 January 2017). "TF1 adapte (encore) deux miniséries étrangères". TVMag (in French). Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  17. ^ "Broadcast Awards Shortlist 2013 revealed". Broadcast.
  18. ^ "Tu Es Mon Fils". 23 February 2015. Archived from the original on 21 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  19. ^ "La fiction de TF1 "Tu es mon fils" récompensée au Festival du Polar de Cognac" (in French). Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  20. ^ 2007 Royal Television Society Awards nominations Archived 21 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ "ENTRE DEUX MERES - Festival des créations télévisuelles de Luchon - NEW". www.festivaldeluchon.tv (in French). Archived from the original on 14 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  22. ^ "Chris Lang: 'The way women are portrayed on TV has got to change'". The Independent. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  23. ^ Lawrence, Ben (22 October 2018). "Unforgotten creator Chris Lang interview: 'Writing saved me after my wife's death'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  24. ^ "Unforgotten writer Chris Lang: how personal tragedy led to new ITV drama Dark Heart". Radio Times. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  25. ^ Chris Lang on happiness, creativity and the duality of life, retrieved 28 November 2023
  26. ^ "BAFTA TV Awards 2016: Unforgotten's Tom Courtenay wins Best Supporting Actor". RadioTimes. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  27. ^ "Broadcast Awards Shortlist 2013 revealed". www.broadcastnow.co.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  28. ^ "Programme Awards Winners 2008 | Royal Television Society". rts.org.uk. 14 March 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  29. ^ "Category List – Best TV Feature or MiniSeries | Edgars Database". theedgars.com. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  30. ^ Wing and a Prayer, 22 September 1997, retrieved 10 May 2016
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