---
name: "Paul Abbott"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/paul-abbott"
fi1m_id: "paul-abbott"
imdb_id: "nm0008036"
tmdb_id: 1212184
wikidata_id: "Q602828"
roles: ["Writer","Producer"]
born: "22 February 1960"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 7
average_fi1m_score: 76
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-07T17:16:08.587770+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."
---

# Paul Abbott

## Identity

Paul Abbott

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/paul-abbott
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** paul-abbott
- **IMDb ID:** nm0008036
- **TMDB ID:** 1212184
- **Wikidata ID:** Q602828
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Abbott, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q602828, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0008036/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1212184

Writer and producer. Born 22 February 1960 in Burnley.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 22 February 1960, Burnley
- **Active:** 1993–2015
- **Frequently works with:** [Catherine Morshead](https://film.one/person/catherine-morshead.md), [Danny Brocklehurst](https://film.one/person/daniel-brocklehurst.md), [Hilary Bevan Jones](https://film.one/person/hilary-bevan-jones.md), [Jack Lothian](https://film.one/person/jack-lothian.md), [Jimmy Dowdall](https://film.one/person/jimmy-dowdall.md), [Julian Jarrold](https://film.one/person/julian-jarrold.md), [Mark Mylod](https://film.one/person/mark-mylod.md), [Paul Tomalin](https://film.one/person/paul-tomalin.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 76, as writer, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 85 (1), 2000s 76 (4), 2010s 72 (2)
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 6, Comedy 3, Crime 3, Mystery 2
- **Screen time:** 2 hours of reviewed films
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Abbott, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q602828, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0008036/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1212184

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*Cracker*](https://film.one/tv/cracker.md) (85), [*Shameless*](https://film.one/tv/shameless.md) (75), [*No Offence*](https://film.one/tv/no-offence.md) (73)
- **Netflix:** [*Shameless*](https://film.one/tv/shameless-2011.md) (70)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Paul Abbott

> Paul Abbott makes difficult people worth our time, especially when they have work to do together. We recommend his ensemble dramas, with a reservation: the writing can keep advertising a character’s outrageousness after we have understood it.

David Threlfall’s Frank Gallagher is funny without being easy company in *Shameless* (2004). Paul Abbott gives us other people worth watching when Frank has exhausted our patience, and that attention to an ensemble is central to his appeal. We like his willingness to let affection survive irritation. His strongest writing gives these difficult people enough to do that they need not spend every scene demonstrating how difficult they are.

The progression from writing on *Coronation Street* to contributing to *Cracker* (1993), then creating *Clocking Off* (2000), widened the settings for his interest in working lives. *Cracker* belongs first to Jimmy McGovern, with Abbott and Ted Whitehead among its writers. Robbie Coltrane’s Fitz is a useful test of the writing: the humour makes his excesses bearable, but repeated demonstrations of them tell us less each time. Those characters need room to do something we have not already seen.

*State of Play* (2003) is his most satisfying work among these series. Across six episodes, director David Yates makes room for Abbott’s complicated investigation, while Donal Woods’s production design gives the newsroom the credibility of a shared workplace. We grew unexpectedly fond of these reporters because the ensemble made the business of pursuing a story feel worth caring about. The plotting occasionally makes a conversation feel like another task to complete, and we wanted more time with the people rather than the connections. Usually, though, Abbott makes the concentration pay.

*Shameless* asks for a different sort of patience. Abbott, Daniel Brocklehurst and Jack Thorne are among the contributors to writing that lets performers be petty, evasive or unexpectedly considerate. When the dialogue insists on advertising everyone’s outrageousness, those same actors must supply distinctions the words have lost. The acting earns our affection, but the uneven writing and appetite for noise put a real qualification on the recommendation.

With *No Offence* (2015), a police procedural with a comic edge, Abbott continued to put humour alongside investigative work. That combination makes sense for a writer whose best scenes allow people to get on with something while remaining awkward company. Give *State of Play* an evening without distractions; Frank Gallagher requires a little more tolerance.

## Biography

Paul Abbott is an English screenwriter and producer. Born in Burnley in 1960, he began his career writing radio plays before becoming a story editor and later a scriptwriter on Coronation Street. He produced the second series of Cracker in 1994 and wrote episodes for the drama.

Abbott created or wrote several acclaimed series, including State of Play (2003), Clocking Off (2000–2003), Shameless (2004–2013) and No Offence (2015–2018). He has received awards including a Royal Television Society Award for Clocking Off and a Peabody Award for State of Play.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, screenonline.org.uk.*

## On Fi1m (7)

- *No Offence* (2015), Fi1m 73, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/no-offence.md)
- *Shameless* (2011), Fi1m 70, Writer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/shameless-2011.md)
- *Shameless* (2004), Fi1m 75, Writer, Creator, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/shameless.md)
- *State of Play* (2003), Fi1m 88, Creator, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/state-of-play.md)
- *Tomorrow La Scala!* (2002), Fi1m 59, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/tomorrow-la-scala.md)
- *Clocking Off* (2000), Fi1m 82, Creator, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/clocking-off.md)
- *Cracker* (1993), Fi1m 85, Producer, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/cracker.md)

## Complete filmography (34)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Wolfe* (2021), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator
- *No Offence* (2015), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/no-offence.md)
- *Twenty8K* (2012), Screenplay
- *Hit & Miss* (2012), series, Producer, Creator
- *Exile* (2011), series, Producer, Creator
- *Shameless* (2011), series, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/shameless-2011.md)
- *Tony* (2010), Executive Producer
- *State of Play* (2009), Original Series Creator, Original Story, Executive Producer
- *The Stronger* (2007), Executive Producer
- *Instinct* (2007), series, Producer
- *The Innocence Project* (2006), series, Producer
- *To the Ends of the Earth* (2005), series, Producer
- *The Girl in the Café* (2005), Executive Producer
- *Touching Evil* (2004), series, Creator
- *Shameless* (2004), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/tv/shameless.md)
- *Alibi* (2003), Writer
- *State of Play* (2003), series, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/state-of-play.md)
- *Tomorrow La Scala!* (2002), Writer — Fi1m 59, [page](https://film.one/film/tomorrow-la-scala.md)
- *Linda Green* (2001), series, Writer, Creator
- *Best of Both Worlds* (2001), series, Writer
- *The Secret World of Michael Fry* (2000), series, Writer
- *The Secret World of Michael Fry* (2000), Writer
- *Clocking Off* (2000), series, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/clocking-off.md)
- *Love in the 21st Century* (1999), series, Writer
- *Butterfly Collectors* (1999), series, Writer, Creator
- *Reckless: The Sequel* (1998), Writer
- *Police 2020* (1997), Writer
- *Touching Evil* (1997), series, Writer, Creator
- *Reckless* (1997), series, Writer, Creator
- *Cracker: White Ghost* (1996), Writer
- *Springhill* (1996), series, Creator
- *Sharman* (1995), series, Writer
- *Cracker* (1993), series, Writer, Producer — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/tv/cracker.md)
- *Children's Ward* (1989), series, Creator

## Gallery

- ![Paul Abbott](https://film.one/media/person/60646/gallery-9dfa3281c15d.jpg) Paul Abbott — Paul_Abbott.jpg: University of Salford Press Office
derivative work: Off2riorob (talk), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Paul_Abbott_cropped.jpg/1280px-Paul_Abbott_cropped.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/60646/gallery-9262d21da76c.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/KD9C6278_%288228096590%29.jpg/1280px-KD9C6278_%288228096590%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/60646/gallery-b9c7fc3149eb.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/KD9C6279_%288228096294%29.jpg/1280px-KD9C6279_%288228096294%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/60646/gallery-c1341a840851.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/KD9C6280_%288228096046%29.jpg/1280px-KD9C6280_%288228096046%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/60646/gallery-7d1ef7cd550e.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/KD9C6282_%288228095752%29.jpg/1280px-KD9C6282_%288228095752%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/60646/gallery-3d7acd13f618.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/KD9C6284_%288227025521%29.jpg/1280px-KD9C6284_%288227025521%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won

- Edgar Awards 1997: Edgar Awards (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© 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/paul-abbott