James Strong

James Strong is a British television and film director and writer, best known for his work on Broadchurch for which he was BAFTA-nominated for Best Director Fiction 2015. He trained at Granada TV and has directed episodes of the shows Holby City and Doctors, as well as seven episodes of Doctor Who and two episodes of its spin-off series Torchwood. His work on the Doctor Who episode "Voyage of the Damned" won him a BAFTA Cymru award for Best Director in 2008. In 2007, he directed the autobiographical documentary Elton John: Me, Myself & I and in 2008 he directed three episodes of Bonekickers. He then directed Hunted and Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story and Silent Witness in 2010 followed by the feature film United and Downton Abbey in 2011. He was lead director and associate producer on Broadchurch, which won six BAFTAs including Best Drama and for which he was nominated for BAFTA Best Director Fiction. Strong followed this with work on Series 2 of Broadchurch, the US remake Gracepoint in 2013 and other US pilots, including Kingmakers for ABC in 2015 and Drew in 2016. He also directed episodes of the Stephen King adaptation and J. J. Abrams produced 11.22.63. In 2017 he directed and executive produced "Liar" for ITV and AMC. He recently directed the critically acclaimed mini-series “Vanity Fair “ for ITV and Amazon Studios. He is then set to direct a J.R.R. Tolkien biopic entitled 'Middle Earth'.

Works

United

United is based on the true story of Manchester United's legendary "Busby Babes", the youngest side ever to win the Football League and the 1958 Munich Air Crash that claimed eight of the their number. The film draws on first-hand interviews with the survivors and their families to tell the inspirational story of a team and community overcoming terrible tragedy.

Release Date:2011-01-02

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:156

Words of War

World-renowned journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya went from being a local print journalist to braving the Chechen killing fields and exposing Russian state corruption under Vladimir Putin. She refused to give up reporting on the war in Chechnya despite numerous acts of intimidation and violence, including being poisoned. She was ultimately murdered in the elevator of her block of flats and it remains unclear who paid for the contract killing.

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Mr Bates vs The Post Office

The story of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.

Release Date:2024-01-01

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Episode Count:4

Vote Count:47

Fire Country

Seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence, young convict Bode Donovan joins a firefighting program that returns him to his small Northern California hometown, where he and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.

Release Date:2022-10-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:119

The Suspect

Doctor Joseph O'Loughlin a man who appears to have the perfect life and a successful career as a clinical psychologist. But nothing can be taken for granted, even the most flawless existence is only a loose thread away from unravelling.

Release Date:2022-08-29

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Episode Count:5

Vote Count:39

Crime

Detective Inspector Ray Lennox investigates the disappearance of a schoolgirl while battling cocaine addiction and a mental breakdown.

Release Date:2021-11-18

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:31

Vigil

The mysterious disappearance of a Scottish fishing trawler and a death on-board the submarine HMS Vigil bring the police into conflict with the Navy and British security services. DCI Amy Silva and DS Kirsten Longacre lead an investigation on land and at sea into a conspiracy that goes to the very heart of Britain’s national security.

Release Date:2021-08-29

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:3

Vote Count:221

Vanity Fair

In a world where everyone is striving for what is not worth having, no one is more determined to climb to the heights of English society than Becky Sharp.

Release Date:2018-09-02

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:7

Vote Count:52

Liar

A teacher and a surgeon are rocked by scandalous accusations after they enjoy a seemingly innocent date.

Release Date:2017-09-11

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:102

Doubt

A successful defense lawyer at a boutique firm becomes romantically involved with a client who may or may not be guilty of a brutal crime.

Release Date:2017-02-15

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:25

11.22.63

An English teacher travels back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination, but discovers he is attached to the life he has made in a bygone era.

Release Date:2016-02-15

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:1523

Code of a Killer

Based on the extraordinary true story of Alec Jeffreys' discovery of DNA fingerprinting and its first use by Detective Chief Superintendent David Baker in catching a double murderer.

Release Date:2015-04-06

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:48

Gracepoint

When a young boy is found dead on an idyllic beach, a major police investigation gets underway in the small California seaside town where the tragedy occurred. Soon deemed a homicide, the case sparks a media frenzy, which throws the boy's family into further turmoil and upends the lives of all of the town's residents.

Release Date:2014-10-02

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:4

Vote Count:73

From There to Here

From There To Here is set in the aftermath of the 1996 Arndale bombing and follows Daniel Cotton, a Manchester family man who is torn between the life he wants and the life he could have.

Release Date:2014-05-22

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:3

Vote Count:10

The Great Train Robbery

8 August 1963: Britain wakes up to news of the biggest robbery in the country’s history. A train has been hijacked and robbed, 35 miles from its arrival in central London. The country is stunned. Who could be behind it? How did they pull off such an audacious raid?

Release Date:2013-12-18

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:58

Broadchurch

The murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.

Release Date:2013-03-04

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:24

Vote Count:858

Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story

Schoolboy Maurice Cole, growing up in 1960s Liverpool, is picked on for being effeminate but is already making his own comedy tapes, one of which impresses agent Wilfred De'ath through whom he gets a job on a pirate radio station, changing his name to Kenny Everett. Though sacked for annoying the sponsor his popularity sees him working on the BBC's newly-formed Radio One. Around this time he meets and marries Lee Middleton, who not only sticks by him through his career lows but is sympathetic when, following a drugs over-dose, he admits to being gay. She even helps him find a boyfriend though, unlike his friend Freddie Mercury, he is reluctant to come out. Following their divorce Kenny is best man when Lee marries actor John Alkin and, in 1985, in typically flamboyant style comes out, owing to having not one but two 'husbands'. However, in 1989 he is diagnosed as HIV+ and, in 1995, a year after winning the prestigious Sony award, dies of AIDS aged fifty.

Release Date:2012-10-02

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

Missing

Becca Winstone learns that her son, Michael, disappears while studying abroad, and it's a race against time when she travels to Europe to track him down. A surprising turn of events reveals just how far one mother will go to protect her family. Exotic locations and thrilling twists will keep you riveted in "Missing."

Release Date:2012-03-15

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:82

White Van Man

The incredible misadventures of two handymen on the road and the extraordinary people they meet along the way.

Release Date:2011-03-22

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:10

Downton Abbey

A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.

Release Date:2010-09-26

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:1034

Monty Python in Aberystwyth

In a strange turn of events, Sue Jones-Davies became the mayor of a Welsh town where Monty Python's Life of Brian was still banned - the film where she played the female lead.

Release Date:2009-05-12

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead

A meeting in a London bus with jewel thief Lady Christina takes a turn for the worse for the Doctor when the bus takes a detour to a desert-like planet, where the deadly Swarm awaits.

Release Date:2009-04-11

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:207

Bonekickers

Bonekickers was a BBC drama about a team of archaeologists, set at the fictional Wessex University. It made its début on 8 July 2008 and ran for one series. It was written by Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah. It was produced by Michele Buck and Damien Timmer of Mammoth Screen Ltd and co-produced with Monastic Productions. Archaeologist and Bristol University academic Mark Horton acted as the series' archaeological consultant. Adrian Lester has described the programme as "CSI meets Indiana Jones [...] There's an element of the crime procedural show, there's science, conspiracy theories – and there's a big underlying mystery that goes through the whole six-episode series." Much of the series was filmed in the City of Bath, Somerset, with locations including the University of Bath campus. Additional locations included Brean Down Fort and Kings Weston House, Chavenage House for episodes 5 & 6 and Sheldon Manor. On 21 November 2008 Broadcast magazine revealed the show would not be returning for a second series.

Release Date:2008-07-08

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:11

Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned

When disaster hits the Titanic, the Doctor uncovers a threat to the whole human race. Battling alongside aliens, saboteurs, robot Angels and a new friend called Astrid, can he stop the Christmas inferno?

Release Date:2007-12-25

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:196

Elton John: Me, Myself & I

Elton John: Me, Myself & I is a 2007 documentary filmed after the death of Elton John's good friend Diana and other soul shaking events that caused him to reassess his life. It is a candid appraisal by Elton John (tongue in cheek) of his fame, drug use, sexuality, and mistakenly taking his life for granted. It was filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Release Date:2007-09-22

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

Character:Young Swanky Modes

Vote Count:55

Doctor Who

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Release Date:1963-11-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:639