Biography of Janice Hally

Janice Hally's first play, Ready or Not, written while she was still at university, won the 1980 World Student Drama Trust Award, an international competition. It was produced by the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, and subsequently adapted for television, leading to her nomination - at the age of 23 - in the category of Best New Writer to Television in the 1982 PYE Television Awards. From then until 1997, she worked continuously in as a television dramatist, writing single plays, children's drama, and serial drama, accruing more than 650 professional credits as writer, creator, storyliner, and script editor; and establishing herself as one of Scotland's most versatile and entertaining television writers. Her works include some of Scotland's most popular television dramas. "Take The High Road" was at the peak of its success, enjoying record audience figures when she was storylining and writing scripts for it, during the mid-to-late 80's, where she met and formed a writing partnership with Peter May. In the 1990s, they co-created the ground-breaking 99-episode drama serial "Machair" set in the Outer Hebrides. Hally storylined and scripted, and May went on to become the producer, leading a 70-strong cast and crew to the Isle of Lewis where they spent six months out of every year, for 4 years making the drama serial.