--- name: "Cris Cole" canonical: "https://film.one/person/cris-cole" fi1m_id: "cris-cole" imdb_id: "nm1659841" tmdb_id: 1192630 wikidata_id: "Q24572694" roles: ["Writer"] reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "writer" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-10-07T15:34:14.641447+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Cris Cole ## Identity Cris Cole - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/cris-cole - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** cris-cole - **IMDb ID:** nm1659841 - **TMDB ID:** 1192630 - **Wikidata ID:** Q24572694 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cris_Cole, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24572694, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1659841/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1192630 Writer. Born in Wallingford, England. ## Details - **Work:** Writer - **Active:** 2005–2011 - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cris_Cole, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24572694, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1659841/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1192630 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Mad Dogs*](https://film.one/tv/mad-dogs.md) (65) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Cris Cole > Cris Cole writes groups of old friends who joke their way towards disaster, and he writes the jokes well. *Mad Dogs* is the proof and, so far, most of the case: a good trick, held for three episodes, that he has since carried to Belize and Cairo. Four men by a swimming pool in Majorca, hard white light, something terrible has just happened, and one of them makes a joke. That is Cris Cole's scene, and *Mad Dogs* (2011) is built out of it. Four old school friends go abroad to visit the fifth, Alvo (Ben Chaplin), who has done well out there and wants everyone to see it, and within an hour of screen time the lads' holiday is a crime story. Cole's bet is that it can become one without the weather changing. Nobody skulks in an alley. For three of the four episodes the bet pays. Cole came to writing late, after fifteen years playing guitar and bass in bands, and it shows in the way the talk is built: men speaking over each other, old nicknames, older grudges, a joke reached for the way other people reach for a drink. The early credits are television, episodes of *The Bill* and *Twisted Tales* (2005), then features, *Pelican Blood* (2010) and *Love Bite* (2012), neither of which we have reviewed; the notices for *Pelican Blood* liked its sardonic humour and found the plot loose. Then *Mad Dogs*, all fourteen episodes across four series, written by Cole alone, which is where the reputation was made. The moment we keep coming back to is a monologue from Beesley in the second half, a long, tired account of what Woody's life has come to, played with his back to the view. It is quieter than anything around it and it caught us off guard, because until then we had assumed the jokes were all Cole had. That is the strength. The weakness is endings. The fourth episode of the first series sits down when it should run and lets go of most of what the first three built. The American version (2015–2016), which Cole adapted and ran himself, moved the villa to Belize and expanded the story to ten episodes, and the reviews were mixed on whether the tone survived the stretch. We have not reviewed it. Since then there has been *Ana* (2020), a feature with Andy Garcia and Dafne Keen, and *Rose & Layla* (2022), a ten-part comedy-drama set in Cairo, written in English and translated, directed by Adrian Shergold, who has now worked with Cole twice. The shape is the same each time: a group, a city abroad, a secret that will not stay put. The names usually placed next to his are David Lynch and the Coen brothers, which flatters the plotting. What Cole has is an ear, and an ear is rarer. Give him a villa, four men and something buried, and he will get you through three good episodes. The fourth is still the test, and we would like to see him pass it. ## Biography Cris Cole is a British writer and producer. Born in Wallingford, England, he grew up in London and attended Elliott School in Roehampton. He worked as a professional guitarist and bass player for fifteen years before turning to writing, with an early credit on the 1997 pilot *Embassy* for Tiger Aspect and the BBC. Cole created and wrote all fourteen episodes of the British series *Mad Dogs* (2011–2013) for Sky1. He later served as executive producer and showrunner on the American adaptation (2015–2016) for Amazon Studios. Other credits include the screenplay for *Pelican Blood* (2010), the film *Love Bite* (2012), and writing and executive producing *Ana* (2020). He has received a BAFTA nomination for his work. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Mad Dogs* (2011), Fi1m 65, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/mad-dogs.md) ## Complete filmography (9) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Rose & Layla* (2024), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator - *Ana* (2020), Executive Producer, Story, Screenplay - *Mad Dogs* (2015), series, Creator - *Attila* (2013), as Attila - *Love Bite* (2012), Writer - *Mad Dogs* (2011), series, Creator — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/mad-dogs.md) - *Pelican Blood* (2010), Screenplay - *The Good Times Are Killing Me* (2009), Writer - *Twisted Tales* (2005), series, Writer --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. 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