Biography

Jonathan Harvey was born in Liverpool in 1968, and was educated at Hull University (Psychology and Education) before moving to London, where he worked for four years as a special-needs teacher at a comprehensive school in Thamesmead, the area where his film Beautiful Thing (1996) is set. He started writing at the age of 16, with his play "The Cherry Blossom Tree". He continued writing whilst studying and teaching, and it was for his play "Wildfire" that he was awarded an attachment to the National Theatre's Studio at the end of 1992, prompting him to give up his teaching post and write full-time. He now lives in London with his boyfriend.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous

In the Independent on Sunday [UK] 2006 Pink LIst - a list of the most influential gay men and women - Harvey came no. 70, down from no.46.

He was awarded the 1994 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright for Babies.

Journalists hated it but viewers didn't. It went from BBC2 to BBC1, got three series and a Christmas special. The gay press wasn't very happy because it featured a camp, outrageous gay man and they didn't like that. It was just supposed to be a cartoon. I was mortified when those reviews first came out. (On Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999))

Is there snobbishness about a playwright doing soaps? It's regular work. With TV you do a lot of things that never see the light of day. It's liberating to write something you know is going to appear on screen. When I first started, the character Todd was just coming out as gay. It was a fantastic opportunity to tell that story in a responsible way. The episode where he told his girlfriend got 13million viewers, which is slightly different to putting on a play at an 80-seater theatre. I also like how Corrie can do drama and comedy in 23 minutes. Others don't do it so well. (On writing for Coronation Street (1960))