Colin Bateman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Colin Bateman
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| Born | 13 June 1962 Newtownards, Northern Ireland |
| Pen name | Bateman |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Education | Journalism |
| Genre | Crime, Dark comedy, Thriller |
| Notable works | Dan Starkey, Murphy's Law & Mystery Man novels |
| Notable awards | Betty Trask Award (1994) Crimefest Last Laugh (2009) |
Colin Bateman (known by one name as Bateman) is a talented writer from Bangor, Northern Ireland. He writes exciting novels, screenplays for movies, and TV shows. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist.
Contents
About Colin Bateman
His Life and Career
Colin Bateman was born on 13 June 1962. He went to Bangor Grammar School until he was 16. At that age, he started working as a young reporter for the County Down Spectator newspaper. He later became a columnist and deputy editor. A collection of his newspaper columns was published in a book called Bar Stool Boy in 1989.
Bateman started writing novels in 1994 with his first book, Divorcing Jack. This book won a special award called the Betty Trask Award in the same year. It was even made into a movie in 1998 starring David Thewlis. Many of Bateman's novels feature a character named Dan Starkey, a journalist from Belfast. This character is partly based on Bateman's own experiences.
One of his books, Murphy's Law, was turned into a popular BBC television series called Murphy's Law (2001–2007). The show starred James Nesbitt. Colin Bateman has explained that he wrote Murphy's Law especially for James Nesbitt. The first episode of the TV show was watched by over seven million people! Bateman was the main writer for the three TV series that followed.
He also wrote an 8-part TV series called Scúp. This series was first written in English and then translated into Irish. It was produced by Sterling Films and BBC Northern Ireland, and a second series was later made.
Colin Bateman has also written books for young readers. His children's book Titanic 2020 was chosen as a finalist for the 2008 Salford Children's Book Award.
Many of his works are published under the name "Bateman" instead of his full name. In his 2007 novel I Predict a Riot, he even joked about it, dedicating the book to his "Christian name, gone but not forgotten."
Since 2016, Bateman has been writing more for movies. He wrote the screenplays for 'The Journey' (2016), which starred Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney, and 'Driven' (2018), starring Jason Sudeikis and Lee Pace. Both of these films were shown for the first time at the Venice Film Festival and were also chosen for the Toronto Film Festival. He is currently working on new films about Fidel Castro in New York, called 'The Hotel Theresa', and about a British double agent named George Blake.
Books for Young Readers
Colin Bateman has written several exciting book series for children.
Eddie & the Gang with No Name series
- Reservoir Pups (2003)
- Bring Me the Head of Oliver Plunkett (2004)
- The Seagulls Have Landed (2005)
Titanic 2020 series
- Titanic 2020 (2007)
- Titanic 2020: Cannibal City (2008)
SOS Adventures series
- Ice Quake (2010)
- Fire Storm (2010)
- Tusk (2011)
Books for Adults
Colin Bateman has also written many novels for adult readers. Here are some of his popular series and other standalone books.
Dan Starkey series
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Martin Murphy series
- Murphy's Law (2002)
- Murphy's Revenge (2005)
Mystery Man series
- Mystery Man (2009)
- The Day of the Jack Russell (2009)
- Dr. Yes (2010)
- The Prisoner of Brenda (2012)
Other Novels
- Cycle of Violence (1995)
- Empire State (1997)
- Maid of the Mist (1999)
- Mohammed Maguire (2001)
- Wild About Harry (2001)
- Chapter and Verse (2003)
- I Predict A Riot (2007)
- Orpheus Rising (2008)
- Paper Cuts (2016)
Movies and TV Shows
Colin Bateman has written screenplays for several movies and TV series:
- Divorcing Jack (1998)
- Crossmaheart (1998)
- Wild About Harry (2000)
- Turbulent Priests (2000) – He wrote the screenplay, but the film was not produced.
- Watermelon (2003)
- Scúp (TV series, 2013–14)
- The Journey (2016)
- Driven (2018)
See also
- List of Northern Irish writers
