Tim O'Mara

Tim has been in the media for over thirty years. He started at Capital Radio then moved to LBC radio as a Producer.  In 1980 he  joined Picture Palace and worked closely with the new C4. He produced 4 on 4, a series of drama shorts for newcomers to film. The series won a gold at the New York Film Festival. He also worked on Tandoori nights for C4 and the pan European drama, Eurocops. He then formed his own production company Roar Talent where he specialised in commercials, shorts and documentaries and began to write.   Roar talent was then bought and folded into Chrysalis/Bentley where Tim was Head of Drama and Development.   Bentley developed the Caroline Graham novels into Midsomer Murders for ITV, now in its 19th season.  His writing talents had already created 'White Goods' starring Ian Mc Shane and Lenny Henry for which he won best drama from the Commission for Racial Equality. He then created and directed Rumble, a comedy drama series for BBC 1 starring Lesley Joseph and Brian Glover set in the world of american wrestling. He followed this success with Broker's Man starring Kevin Whateley, a series about an ex cop turned insurance investigator filmed in European locations. 
He then wrote Behind Closed Doors which launched the highly acclaimed BBC child abuse season. It won the Prix Europa. He was also writing for Grange Hill and Byker Grove and directing full time. In 2002 he won a BAFTA for creating and directing Jeopardy - a teenage sci-fi series set in Australia co produced by the BBC and ABC. The series was considered ground breaking as actors operated their own DV minicams and provided their own inner camera narrative.  A few years earlier he had written the BAFTA nominated 'See how they run' also set in Australia about a family on a witness protection programme. It won the RTS for best drama and and won the Australian Television Guild Award. Over the last twenty years he has become a soap specialist and his credits include Coronation Street, Emmerdale, The Royal, Casualty, Eastenders, and a 90 minute film for Emmerdale for ITV. He has also been a media Consultant with the BBC Media Trust and has helped develop new dramas for television in the Far East, Middle East, Africa and Russia. He has also written two new long form series ideas and a screenplay that looks at the supernatural entitled 'Sky Gods' set in Australia and the UK. Tim recently directed the 10,000th episode film special for Coronation Street and the 50th anniversary episodes for Emmerdale.    He has also recently bought the film rights to 'No ballet shoes in Syria' a book that examines the plight of young refugees -