Sophie Petzal | |
Birth Date: | 4 November 1990 |
Birth Place: | Brighton, UK |
Occupation: | Screenwriter |
Nationality: | British |
Period: | 2012– |
Genre: | Drama |
Awards: | Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award (2012) Best Long-Form Drama at the Writers' Guild Of Great Britain Awards (2020) |
Sophie Petzal (born 4 November 1990) is a British screenwriter, best known for creating the Irish crime drama, Blood.
Having written comedy shorts as a child, Petzal first gained attention with her script, The God Committee, one of the winners of All Mixed Up, a competition run in conjunction with the Triforce Creative Network and BBC Comedy. The script secured her an agent.[1] While studying screenwriting at Bournemouth University, Petzal secured a place as a BBC Production Trainee. Her script Sanctioned won the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award at the International Emmys.[2]
Following a trainee placement at CBBC in script editing, she started writing for several CBBC shows, including Wolfblood, Hetty Feather, The Dumping Ground and Danger Mouse. She subsequently moved into hour-long drama, writing episodes of Jekyll and Hyde (produced by Foz Allen, who was also the producer on Wolfblood and Hetty Feather), Medici, The Last Kingdom and Riviera.[3]
In 2018, Petzal's first original TV drama series Blood, starring Adrian Dunbar and Carolina Main, aired on TV3 and Channel 5.[4] Her script for Blood won Best Long-Form Drama at the Writers' Guild Of Great Britain Awards.[5] It was renewed for a second series, which began broadcasting in April 2020. It was announced in February 2020 that Petzal was writing a four-part thriller for ITV, Hollington Drive.[6] It would start broadcast on 29 September 2021.
On 13 December 2020, it was announced Petzal would helm an adaptation of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for Netflix.[7] On 17 January 2023, it was reported that after 2 years of development, Netflix had cancelled it. [8]