Frances Byrnes writes dramas and makes documentaries for BBC Radio 3 and 4 and the World Service. “Captivating,” “Brilliantly executed,” “Exceptional,” “Brilliantly adapted,” “Rare insight,” “Often beautiful,” “Remarkable” … are national reviewers’ words for plays that she’s written and documentaries she’s made since she went freelance in 2006, after 18 years as an in-house BBC radio producer.
Her latest adaptation was of Michael Cunningham's The Hours, starring Rosamund Pike (April 2017). Her most distinctive documentaries are about dance – made with international dancers and dancemakers: she recently followed Crystal Pite making a dance for the Royal Ballet in London (July 2017). As well as loving the internationalism of dance, she also loves telling stories about her ever-changing home city – she’s from Sheffield in the North of England.
And at MacDowell, Byrne wrote a full proposal for her first book, a memoir, which she’ll hone for an expectant agent on her return home. Additionally, she also worked on audio, primarily a BBC Radio “experimental” documentary, about a distinctive group of Polish families living in the UK. Still Here was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June of 2018.
