--- name: "Matthew Graham" canonical: "https://film.one/person/matthew-graham" fi1m_id: "matthew-graham" imdb_id: "nm0334213" tmdb_id: 1213831 wikidata_id: "Q2487836" roles: ["Writer"] born: "1 January 1954" reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_fi1m_score: 77 average_as: "writer" average_over: 5 updated: "2026-09-18T10:39:44.635674+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." --- # Matthew Graham ## Identity Matthew Graham - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/matthew-graham - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** matthew-graham - **IMDb ID:** nm0334213 - **TMDB ID:** 1213831 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2487836 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Graham, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2487836, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0334213/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1213831 Writer. Born 1 January 1954. ## Details - **Work:** Writer - **Born:** 1 January 1954 - **Active:** 1996–2008 - **Frequently works with:** [Jonny Campbell](https://film.one/person/jonny-campbell.md), [Alrick Riley](https://film.one/person/alrick-riley.md), [Andrew Gunn](https://film.one/person/andrew-gunn-1230489.md), [Ashley Pharoah](https://film.one/person/ashley-pharoah.md), [Bharat Nalluri](https://film.one/person/bharat-nalluri.md), [Bill Anderson](https://film.one/person/bill-anderson.md), [Catherine Morshead](https://film.one/person/catherine-morshead.md), [Chris Chibnall](https://film.one/person/chris-chibnall.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as writer, over 5 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 84 (1), 2000s 76 (4) - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Genres:** Drama 5, Action & Adventure 3, Crime 3, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3, Mystery 1 - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Graham, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2487836, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0334213/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1213831 ## Streaming the US now - **Apple TV:** [*Spooks*](https://film.one/tv/spooks.md) (77), [*Ashes to Ashes*](https://film.one/tv/ashes-to-ashes.md) (64) - **BritBox:** [*Life on Mars*](https://film.one/tv/life-on-mars.md) (84) - **AMC+:** [*Doctor Who*](https://film.one/tv/doctor-who-2005.md) (78) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Matthew Graham > Matthew Graham is worth seeking out for the way *Life on Mars* makes familiar police work feel unsafe. We rate its uneasy, character-led storytelling highly, though the cases themselves can be more ordinary than the premise. In *Life on Mars* (2006), Sam Tyler has a detective's training and no reliable explanation for what has happened to him. He appears to have travelled back in time, but a coma or a crisis in his own mind might account for it. Graham, Ashley Pharoah and Tony Jordan make that uncertainty intrude on the familiar work of detection. We felt unsettled by Sam's predicament because the man expected to establish the facts cannot establish his own circumstances. It is an effective way of making a police story gripping before the case itself has earned our attention. *This Life* (1996), to which Graham contributed as a writer, supplies a useful earlier point of reference. The muddle of early professional life is funny and affecting, with Daniela Nardini and Jack Davenport helping us forgive an opening that feels too carefully arranged. It would be unfair to claim all of that for Graham. But the programme's appeal helps explain what we value in *Life on Mars*: people worth spending time among, even when the plotting needs their help. The move into science fiction was already apparent in *The Last Train* (1999), a post-apocalyptic series Graham created and wrote. *Ashes to Ashes* (2008–2010) later extended the world of *Life on Mars*. His later credits include episodes of *Doctor Who* (2006, 2011) and the Arthur C. Clarke adaptation *Childhood's End* (2015), taking him into both established television and the work of another storyteller. *Life on Mars* also shows the limits of a clever premise. Some of its police stories are ordinary, and the arguments between its central pair begin to repeat. John Simm and Philip Glenister keep those exchanges compelling, but even good company cannot make repetition disappear. The series gives us enough reason to care about Sam that these lapses remain tolerable. Start with *Life on Mars*, and allow it a few routine cases on the way. ## Biography Matthew Graham is a British television writer and producer. He is the co-creator, with Ashley Pharoah, of the BBC series *Life on Mars* (2006–2007) and its sequel *Ashes to Ashes* (2008–2010). Graham began his career in 1990 writing for children's television, including co-penning episodes of *Streetwise*. He later contributed to *EastEnders*, *Byker Grove*, *Spooks*, *Hustle* and episodes of *Doctor Who* (including "Fear Her" in 2006). He has also written for *The Spanish Princess* (2019) and adapted *Childhood's End* (2015). In 2006 he formed Monastic Productions with Pharoah. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (5) - *Ashes to Ashes* (2008), Fi1m 64, Writer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/ashes-to-ashes.md) - *Life on Mars* (2006), Fi1m 84, Creator, Executive Producer, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/life-on-mars.md) - *Doctor Who* (2005), Fi1m 78, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/doctor-who-2005.md) - *Spooks* (2002), Fi1m 77, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/spooks.md) - *This Life* (1996), Fi1m 84, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/this-life.md) ## Complete filmography (28) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Spanish Princess* (2019), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator - *Better Watch Out* (2017), Co-Producer - *Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams* (2017), series, Writer - *Kat & Alfie: Redwater* (2017), series, Writer - *The Living and the Dead* (2016), series, Creator - *Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child* (2016), Producer - *Childhood's End* (2015), series, Writer, Creator - *Infini* (2015), Producer - *Eternal Law* (2012), series, Creator - *Case Histories* (2011), series, Writer - *La chica de ayer* (2009), series, Original Series Creator - *Life on Mars* (2008), series, Creator - *Bonekickers* (2008), series, Writer, Creator - *Ashes to Ashes* (2008), series, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/tv/ashes-to-ashes.md) - *Walk Away and I Stumble* (2007), Writer - *Life on Mars* (2006), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/life-on-mars.md) - *Walk Away and I Stumble* (2005), series, Writer - *Doctor Who* (2005), series, Writer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/doctor-who-2005.md) - *Hustle* (2004), series, Writer - *Impact* (2003), Writer - *P.O.W.* (2003), series, Creator - *Serious & Organised* (2003), series, Writer - *Spooks* (2002), series, Writer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/spooks.md) - *The Gentleman Thief* (2001), Writer - *The Last Train* (1999), series, Writer, Creator - *This Life* (1996), series, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/this-life.md) - *Streetwise* (1989), series, Writer - *God of War*, series, Executive Producer --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/matthew-graham