Horsfield, Debbie 1955-

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HORSFIELD, Debbie 1955-

PERSONAL: Born February 14, 1955, in Manchester, England; partner of Martin Wenner; children: four. Education: Newcastle University, B.A. (with honors), 1977. Hobbies and other interests: Manchester United football.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Julia Kreitman, The Agency Limited, 24 Pottery Lane, Holland Park, London W11 4LZ, England.

CAREER: Writer, dramatist, producer, and songwriter. Gulbenkian Studio Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, assistant administrator, 1978-80; Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford upon Avon, England, assistant to artistic director, 1980-83; Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool, England, writer-in-residence, 1983-84.

AWARDS, HONORS: Thames Television award, 1983; nominated for Best Drama Series award, British Association of Film and Television Artists, 2003, for Cutting It.

WRITINGS:

PLAYS

Out on the Floor, produced in London, England, 1981.

Away from It All, produced in London, England, 1982.

The Next Four Years, Parts 1-2, produced in Liverpool, then London, England, 1983.

All You Deserve, produced in London, England, 1983.

Red Devils (produced in Liverpool, England 1983; produced in London, England, 1984; produced in New York, NY, 1989), published in Red Devils Trilogy, 1986.

True Dare Kiss (produced in Liverpool, England, 1983; produced in London, England, 1985), published in Red Devils Trilogy, 1986.

Command or Promise (produced in Liverpool, England, 1983; produced in London, England, 1985), published in Red Devils Trilogy, 1986.

Touch and Go, produced in London, England, 1984.

Revelations, produced in Chichester, Sussex, England, 1985.

Red Devils Trilogy (includes Red Devils, True DareKiss, and Command or Promise), Methuen (London, England), 1986.

Royal Borough, produced in London, England, 1987.

In Touch, produced in Coventry, England, 1988.

OTHER

Making Out (television series; produced 1989), Transworld (London, England), 1989.

Born to Run (television series), British Broadcasting Corporation, 1997.

(And series creator) Cutting It (television series), British Broadcasting Corporation, 2002.

Author of radio play Arrangements, 1981. Author of television episodes "Face Value," for Crown Court series, 1982. Also author of television series Out on the Floor, 1983; The Riff-Raff Element, 2, 1993; and Sex, Chips, and Rock 'n' Roll, 1998.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Currently adapting six-part television series, Sex, Chips, and Rock 'n' Roll, into a musical for Royal Exchange.

SIDELIGHTS: Dramatist Debbie Horsfield is one of the most successful women playwrights in Great Britain, thanks in large part to her varied and popular television dramas. Making Out, Horsfield's first television series, explored the lives and relationships of a group of women working in a factory. The setting allowed Horsfield to explore the issues of working-class women, while the characters were able to interact with men outside of the traditional television relationship stereotypes. The popularity of the show was attributed to Horsfield's realistic depiction of women.

Horsfield's Born to Run delves into family squabbling and bitterness. The show's protagonist, Billie Whitelaw, leaves her treacherous husband following his heart attack, and Byron Fitch fights his invalid father for control of the family's classic-car company. Guardian contributor Stuart Jeffries noted that "the story is no simplistic feminist self-fulfillment yarn. Instead it's a satisfyingly complicated dynastic saga." Adam Sweeting, also reviewing the television program for the Manchester Guardian, advised that "seatbelts should remain fastened for rivet-popping emotional turbulence."

Sex, Chips, and Rock 'n' Roll, Horsfield's next television series, tells the story of twin sisters working in a chip shop during the sixties, while Cutting It series takes place in the world of haircutting, focusing on the rivalry between two salons. The idea for Cutting It came from the author's twin sisters, who used to have a hair salon in Radcliffe, England. At the time, Horsfield was just starting out as a writer, and she would go in to get a hair cut and listen to the surrounding gossip, inspired by everyone's stories. Neil Crossley, in a review for the Guardian, said of the series that, "ten minutes in, it has you hooked." Also writing in the Guardian, Mark Lawson commented that "Horsfield specializes in working-class characters of a kind which have been the staple of television drama for forty years." Lawson went on to conclude, "What's intriguing about Cutting It is the extent to which social realism in TV drama has been replaced by social surrealism . . . You sometimes feel a requirement for every character to be a wacky turn."

Horsfield's ability to craft strong female characters and sharp, precise dialogue dates back to her work for the theater. Her focus on real, self-empowered women is obvious in her best-known plays, published together as Red Devils Trilogy. The three plays in the trilogy, Red Devils, True Dare Kiss, and Command or Promise, examine the lives of four women, friends since childhood, who share their relationships, careers, and dreams with each other. In addition, these four women, like Horsfield herself, are fans of Manchester United football. Horsfield uses the sport, as well as the name of the team, as a symbol for the solidity of the group's friendship as they grow and develop.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Dramatists, 6th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

Guardian (Manchester, England), May 6, 1997, Stuart Jeffries, review of Born to Run, p. T6; May 26, 1997, Adam Sweeting, "Fast and Loose," review of Born to Run, p. T39; April 15, 2002, Mark Lawson, "Not Just a lot of Hot Air," review of Cutting It, p. 15; April 16, 2002, Neil Crossley, review of Cutting It, p. 24; May 6, 2003, Neil Crossley, review of Cutting It, p. 24.

Northern Echo (Darlington, England), May 5, 2004, Steve Pratt, "Hairdressers Fail to Make the Cut," p. 13.