I caught the filmmaking bug at the age of 14 whilst still a Bradford schoolboy and stitched my first film together on a clunky VHS machine. I went on to study political philosophy at Cambridge University, using my time to direct several theatre productions including Volpone, starring Jamie Bamber and The Tempest, starring Olivia Colman.
My passion for editing led to my professional break as a documentary editor on high-profile strands such as Secret History, Witness and The Real.. My work as a filmmaker began in 2000 when I won a commission from BBC Films. The subsequent film, The Love Doctor, a twenty minute film starring Nitin Ganatra and Emma Catherwood and produced by Laura Hastings-Smith was commended at festivals across the world. It was the first of several shorts over the next ten years including Bust, which showed at Cannes and The Three Rules of Infidelity which was selected for the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival.
In 2003 I directed two part drama Second Generation for Channel 4, starring Parminder Nagra and Om Puri, which won an EMMA and was named in the Observer's top ten television pieces of 2003. The two part Brit Asian drama garnered awards from around the world and in 2010 featured in the BFI's retrospective of the best British TV of the 21st century.
My other TV work includes Waterloo Road, Frances Tuesday, starring Tamzin Outhwaite and Stan, starring Jim Norton, for BBC 4. I have also directed commercials.
Although I have always taken photographs and been interested in the cultural and aesthetic significance of photography, my work as a professional photographer began only recently after studying Fine Art Photography at Central Saint Martins.
As a writer, my work includes Touching Infinity, a biopic about the mathematical genius Ramanujan ; the award winning radio play, 4.4.68 about the assassination of Martin Luther King; an adaptation of Hardy's Two on a Tower; and Vanunu : Time to be Heard about the nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. This play is currently being adapted for the big screen.
I have also recently guest lectured on screenwriting and directing at both the NFTS and the London Screenwriter's Festival.