Kate Brooke

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Wikipedia

Kate Brooke, Lady Lovegrove (born Kate Constantia Sergison-Brooke; 1 June 1968) is a British screenwriter best known for The Forsyte Saga (2002), Wired (2008), Mr Selfridge (2013–16) and The Winter King (2023).[1][2][3]

Early life and education

Kate is the daughter of Timothy Mark Sergison-Brooke, scion of the Viscounts Brookeborough, and Mary Anne Hare, daughter of the first Viscount Blakenham. She has an elder brother.[1][4][5] The Brookes are a prominent Anglo-Irish family, descending from Basil Stanlake Brooke, the third Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, that settled in Northern Ireland before the Plantation of Ulster.[4][6][7] She’s the granddaughter of John Hugh Hare and the great-great granddaughter of Bertram Sergison-Brooke.[4][1]

Kate attended University of Oxford, England, and graduated with a degree in English studies, following which she enrolled in L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Paris. Before becoming a television writer, she set up her own theatre group in England.[3]

Career

In the early years of her career, Kate wrote and directed for theatre. She worked on the stage adaptation of François Mauriac’s Thérèse Desqueyroux (Turtle Key Arts Centre in Fulham, London; 1992), Guy de Maupassant’s Bel Ami (Turtle Key Arts Centre in Fulham, London; 1993), Graham Greene’s The Tenth Man (New End Theatre in Hampstead, London; 1994) and Saki’s Beasts and Super-Beasts.[8][9]

Kate’s first television writing credit was on an episode of the British sketch comedy show Six Pairs of Pants (1995).[10] She wrote six episodes of the Always and Everyone (1999–2002) and four episodes of The Forsyte Saga (2003).[3] With Terry Winsor, she co-wrote Danielle Cable: Eyewitness, a true crime film based on the 1996 murder of Stephen Cameron in a road rage incident; Cameron’s fiancé, the sole witness, was forced to enter witness protection after providing evidence that helped convict Kenneth Noye.[11][12] The film was screened on the third anniversary of Noye's conviction and was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama.[13]

Kate wrote the screenplay for Secret Smile (2003) based on Nicci French's novel of the same name.[14] She wrote the Australian television film Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback (2007) that follows the real life disappearance of Peter Falconio.[15] In 2008, she was the writer on three episodes of Wired.[2]

Kate wrote Breaking the Mould (2009), a historical drama film about the team of University of Oxford scientists who developed penicillin.[16] She adapted Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Making of a Marchioness for the 2012 television film The Making of a Lady starring Joanna Lumley, Linus Roache and James D’Arcy.[3] Sonia Saraiya of the The AV Club called the made-for-TV adaptation “a bizarrely disjointed costume drama” featuring racist depictions of Hindus as “practitioners of black magic.”[17]

Kate wrote on three episodes of The Ice Cream Girls (2013).[15] She co-wrote three seasons of Mr Selfridge (2013–16), a British period drama about Harry Gordon Selfridge, with Andrew Davies and was the showrunner for the second and third season.[15][3] She adapted and served as the showrunner on the first season of A Discovery of Witches (2018). She was the writer and showrunner on the first two seasons of Bancroft (2017–2020).[15][18]

In 2022, Kate was announced as the screenwriter and showrunner for the television adaptation of Erin Young’s The Fields.[15] Together with Ed Whitmore, she was brought in to adapt The Warlord Chronicles trilogy for television, and co-wrote 10 episodes of The Winter King (2023) based on the first book.[19] The series was cancelled after the first season following mixed reviews.[20][21]

Kate directed her first short film Bloodsport in 2024, winning Best Short Film at Birmingham Film Festival and Best Thriller at the Poppy Jaspar Film Festival in California.[8]

Filmography

Writing credits

Production Notes Broadcaster
Six Pairs of Pants
  • "Episode #1.1" (1995)
 Channel 4
Family Affairs
  • 12 episodes (1998–2000)
 Channel 5
Protesting Too Much[22] BBC Radio 4
Always and Everyone
  • "Episode #2.6" (2000)
 ITV
Danielle Cable: Eyewitness ITV
The Forsyte Saga, Series II
  • Television miniseries (co-written with John Galsworthy and Phil Woods, 2003)
 ITV
Secret Smile
  • Television film (2005)
 ITV
Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback
  • Television film (2007)
 ITV
Wired[2]
  • Television miniseries (2008)
 ITV
Breaking the Mould
  • Television film (2009)
 BBC Four
Case Sensitive
  • "The Point of Rescue" (2011)
 ITV
The Making of a Lady
  • Television film (2012)
 ITV
The Ice Cream Girls
  • Television miniseries (2013)
 ITV
Mr Selfridge ITV
Bancroft
  • 4 part Thriller (2017)
 ITV
A Discovery of Witches
  • 5 episodes (2018)
 Sky One
The Winter King ITV, MGM+

Awards and nominations

Year Award Work Category Result Reference
2007 Edgar Allan Poe Awards Secret Smile Best Television Feature/Mini-Series Teleplay (shared with Nicci Gerrard) Nominated

Personal life

Kate married Stephen Lovegrove, former UK National Security Adviser, in 1997. After her husband was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 2024 New Year Honours, she was designated Lady Lovegrove.[23] The couple has two daughters and live in London, England.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage (107th ed.). Burke's Peerage. doi:10.5118/bpbk.2003. ISBN 978-0-9711966-2-9.
  2. 1 2 3 "Wired". The Telegraph. 11 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Woods, Judith (14 December 2012). "Christmas TV drama has a new star written all over it". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Kidd, Chip; Williamson, Charles, eds. (2003). Debrett's peerage and baronetage. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-66093-5.
  5. ↑ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004), "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31197, retrieved 19 November 2025
  6. ↑ Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical dictionary of British generals of the Second World War. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84415-049-6.
  7. ↑ Barton, Brian (1 October 2009), "Brooke, Basil Stanlake", Dictionary of Irish Biography, Royal Irish Academy, doi:10.3318/dib.000985.v1, retrieved 19 November 2025
  8. 1 2 "Kate Brooke". Independent Talent. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  9. ↑ "Kate Brooke - Playwright". doollee.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  10. ↑ Guide, British Comedy. "Full Six Pairs Of Pants cast and crew credits". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  11. ↑ "Danielle Cable: Eyewitness (2003)". BFI. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  12. ↑ "M25 murder fiancée backs drama". 20 March 2003. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  13. ↑ "Winners announced at British Academy Craft Awards" (PDF). www.headline-pictures.co.uk. 16 April 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  14. ↑ Lowry, Brian (25 May 2006). "Secret Smile". Variety. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Petski, Denise (2 June 2022). "'The Fields' Thriller Novel In Works For Television By Bruna Papandrea's Made Up Stories & Jennifer Todd Pictures". Deadline. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  16. ↑ "BBC Four - Breaking the Mould: The Story of Penicillin". BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  17. ↑ "The Making Of A Lady is made of nonsense". AV Club. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  18. ↑ "Bancroft is baroque, bonkers and hilariously off the wall – review". The Independent. 3 January 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  19. ↑ Yossman, K. J. (19 August 2022). "'The Winter King,' From Sony's Bad Wolf Productions, to Debut on U.K. Streaming Platform ITVX". Variety. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  20. ↑ Swift, Andy (6 September 2024). "Beacon 23 And The Winter King Not Returning On MGM+ (Exclusive)". TVLine. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  21. ↑ "The Winter King critic reviews". www.metacritic.com. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  22. ↑ Brooke, Sally Phillips,Kate (8 August 2024). Protesting Too Much.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ↑ "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N3.