Joe Ahearne brings an actor’s face close and lets it make the strange story credible. We value that attention to people; the funny, affecting This Life remains our clearest recommendation.
Fi1m perspective
Joe Ahearne wants to see the eyes. His preference for close framing puts much of the responsibility for suspense on the actor, which suits his interest in human drama within supernatural stories. That attention to performers is also a useful way into This Life (1996), to which he contributed as writer and director. We recommend it warmly, with a small reservation about how carefully the opening has been arranged.
Daniela Nardini and Jack Davenport make that initial fuss seem a minor complaint. We felt for the programme’s muddled young professionals because those performances made their confusion funny as well as affecting. We would not credit one writer-director with all of that, but this is a useful place to recognise how much Ahearne’s work depends on actors.
Ultraviolet (1998) was a six-part vampire series that he created, wrote and directed. World Productions worked with him on both This Life and Ultraviolet, and his acting collaborators include Christopher Eccleston. His five episodes of Doctor Who (2005) include Father’s Day and the Dalek story, where emotional, character-focused direction gives the science fiction weight. The genre suits a director who favours suspense and human drama over graphic horror.
Apparitions (2008), a six-episode supernatural thriller, again gave him both writing and directing duties. He has explained the benefit plainly: “It’s easier directing something you’ve written because you can change it more freely on set when the actors discover what works and what doesn’t.” That is a practical reason to do both jobs. It also fits his preference for letting a performance carry the tension.
He co-wrote Danny Boyle’s Trance (2013), adapting his own earlier television version. He also wrote and directed The Replacement (2017) and the feature B&B (2017). Start with This Life for the ensemble, then try Ultraviolet if a vampire story sounds more inviting.
Biography
Joe Ahearne is a British television writer and director. His career began after his short film Latin for a Dark Room won an award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1994, leading to work with the production company World Productions.
For the BBC Two drama series This Life (1996), Ahearne wrote two episodes and directed three, the only person to fulfil both roles on the series. He later directed the 2007 reunion episode This Life +10. He directed five episodes of the 2005 series of Doctor Who, for which he received a BAFTA nomination.
Ahearne wrote and directed the Channel 4 series Ultraviolet (1998) and the BBC series Apparitions (2008). He co-wrote the screenplay for the feature film Trance (2013) and wrote and directed the feature B&B (2017).
