--- name: "Tony Grisoni" canonical: "https://film.one/person/tony-grisoni" roles: ["Writer"] born: "28 October 1952" reviewed_on_fi1m: 3 average_fi1m_score: 80 average_as: "writer" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-17T19:28:30.109592+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." --- # Tony Grisoni Writer. Born 28 October 1952 in London, England, UK. ## Details - **Work:** Writer - **Born:** 28 October 1952, London, England, UK - **Active:** 2009–2016 - **Average Fi1m score:** 80, as writer, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 80 (1), 2010s 80 (2) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 80 to 75 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Genres:** Drama 3, Crime 2 - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Grisoni, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3531781, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0342617/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/19725 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*The Young Pope*](https://film.one/tv/the-young-pope.md) (80) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Tony Grisoni > Tony Grisoni makes corruption feel like an ordinary part of working life. We value his attention to how people protect one another, though *Red Riding* also shows how much his writing can leave the actors to supply. In *Red Riding* (2009), the difficulty is knowing how to challenge people whose colleagues have every reason to protect them. Tony Grisoni’s writing makes those connections matter, so that challenging one person seems likely to bring others to their defence. We were disturbed by how ordinary the corruption felt, and by the convincing sense that the institutions would close ranks. It is a strongly acted series worth the effort of following its sometimes unnecessarily tangled plot. His first feature, *Queen of Hearts* (1989), was directed by Jon Amiel. A long collaboration with Terry Gilliam followed: he co-wrote *Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas* (1998) and worked on *Tideland* (2005). Difficult literary adaptations became a recurring part of his work. There was another approach in *In This World* (2002), a docudrama following refugee journeys, whose script drew on research into real journeys. For *Red Riding*, he adapted three of David Peace’s Yorkshire novels into a television trilogy. Adapting Peace, Grisoni keeps the sense that an individual crime belongs to a much larger history of damage. He lets relationships suggest the scale of the trouble rather than treating each offence as a separate puzzle to be solved. That gives the crime story weight beyond the immediate business of discovering who did what. The weaker passages introduce recognisable crime-drama types and ask the performances to make them particular. The actors largely manage it, though a clearer plot would not have made the series any less disturbing. Later television work includes *Southcliffe* (2013) and a contribution to Paolo Sorrentino’s *The Young Pope* (2016). The Gilliam collaboration continued with the co-written *The Man Who Killed Don Quixote* (2018). We would still point first to *Red Riding*, where his attention to institutions protecting themselves produces an unsettling, strongly acted programme. Its occasional lack of clarity is a caveat, not a reason to dismiss it. Set aside the telephone; the plot already requires enough attention. ## Biography Tony Grisoni is a British screenwriter. Born on 28 October 1952 in London, he worked in various film production roles before turning to screenwriting. His first feature screenplay was for *Queen of Hearts* (1989), directed by Jon Amiel. He has collaborated extensively with director Terry Gilliam on *Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas* (1998), *Tideland* (2005) and *The Man Who Killed Don Quixote* (2018). His television credits include writing and creating the *Red Riding* trilogy (2009), adapted from David Peace's novels, and writing episodes of *The Young Pope* (2016). Other notable works include *The Unloved* (2009), *Southcliffe* (2013) and *The City and the City* (2018). Grisoni has also written and directed several short films and is married to artist Oona Grimes. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, legroupeouest.com, theguardian.com, variety.com.* ## On Fi1m (3) - *The Young Pope* (2016), Fi1m 80, Executive Producer, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-young-pope.md) - *Southcliffe* (2013), Fi1m 80, Writer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/southcliffe.md) - *Red Riding* (2009), Fi1m 80, Writer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/red-riding.md) ## Complete filmography (30) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *2073* (2024), Screenplay - *The Man Who Killed Don Quixote* (2018), Screenplay - *The City and the City* (2018), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creative Producer - *Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams* (2017), series, Writer - *The Young Pope* (2016), series, Executive Producer, Writer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-young-pope.md) - *The Film That Buys the Cinema* (2014), Director - *How I Live Now* (2013), Screenplay - *Southcliffe* (2013), series, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/southcliffe.md) - *The Pizza Miracle* (2010), Director, Writer - *10 Minute Tales* (2009), series, Writer, Director - *Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1974* (2009), Writer - *Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980* (2009), Writer - *Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1983* (2009), Writer - *The Unloved* (2009), Writer - *Red Riding* (2009), series, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/red-riding.md) - *Kingsland #1: The Dreamer* (2008), Director, Writer - *Death Defying Acts* (2007), Writer, Co-Producer - *Lives of the Saints* (2007), Screenplay - *Brothers of the Head* (2006), Screenplay, Producer - *Tideland* (2005), Screenplay - *In This World* (2003), Writer - *Weiser* (2001), Writer - *Vanished! A Video Seance* (1999), Director, Writer, Producer - *Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas* (1998), Screenplay - *The Island on Bird Street* (1997), Writer - *Double Vision* (1992), Screenplay - *Murderous Decisions* (1991), Writer - *Queen of Hearts* (1989), Screenplay - *Dark Water* (1980), Writer, Producer - *Marlow*, series, Creator --- © 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/tony-grisoni