Background
He was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, and attended New Heys Comprehensive School from 1973 to 1980.
He was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, and attended New Heys Comprehensive School from 1973 to 1980.
From film school, he joined Cinequip subsidiary Percival Smith Associates with Tony Smith, respected commercials producer to become a highly successful Commercials director Since 2010 he has directed seven episodes of the Independent Television British period drama, Downton Abbey. He also directed the 2013 film, The Book Thief.
He has directed Pleasureland, North and South, ShakespeaRe-Told (Much Ado About Nothing), (for which he won his second Bafta), The Ruby in the Smoke and The Old Curiosity Shop. His nine-minute short About a Girl won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Short Film and several film festival awards in 2001. Foreign his work on the show he won the 2010 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Craft award for Best Fiction Director and the 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. In 2012, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for "Episode 7".
