Hugh Whitemore was born in 1936. He studied for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he later became a member of the Council. He began his writing career in British television (contributing to The Wednesday Play, Armchair Theatre and Play for Today) and twice received Writers' Guild Awards. He has also written for American television, receiving Emmy nominations for CONCEALED ENEMIES (a mini-series about the Alger Hiss espionage case) and THE FINAL DAYS (a dramatisation of the Bob Woodward/Carl Bernstein book about the downfall of President Nixon). THE GATHERING STORM, a film about Churchill in the 1930s, with Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave, won the 2002 Emmy Award for outstanding writing and the Writers Guild of America Award. His latest film about Churchill, INTO THE STORM, starring Brendan Gleeson and Janet McTeer, was shown by HBO and BBC in 2009 and nominated for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Movie credits include THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIER (an adaptation of the novel by Rebecca West), Mel Brooks' production of 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, UTZ, (an adaptation of Bruce Chatwin's novel) and Franco Zeffirelli's JANE EYRE.
His stage plays include SAND IN THE SANDWICHES, STEVIE, PACK OF LIES, BREAKING THE CODE, THE BEST OF FRIENDS, IT'S RALPH, A LETTER OF RESIGNATION, DISPOSING OF THE BODY, GOD ONLY KNOWS and a new
version of Pirandello's AS YOU DESIRE ME. These plays have been translated into many languages and produced throughout the world. He co-wrote the stage play of THE LAST CIGARETTE with Simon Gray, based on Simon’s diaries.
Hugh Whitemore's work has twice been named Best Single TV drama by the UK Broadcasting Press Guild, he has received the Scripter Award in Hollywood (for 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD), the Script Prize at the 1998 Monte Carlo Festival (for his adaptation of A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME) and a special Communications Award from the American Mathematical Society (for BREAKING THE CODE). He was the 2003-4 News International Visiting Professor in broadcast media at Oxford University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Fellow of King's College, London. He died on 17th July 2018.