A new stage in life for the writer who refused to be a casualty of TV system

In the rarified world of the arts Mark Catley is an unusual creature – he really speaks his mind.

His no-nonsense approach to, well, pretty much everything, has also made him a danger to himself. There’s been a temptation in the past to censor his more colourful opinions... Not today.

“The big shake-up is coming in television and as the industry is squeezed there are more and more people who are just looking to justify their roles and they are scared. There are a lot of people who work in television who are aware they may not be entirely vital to the process of creating TV,” he says. “As high up as I got in Casualty, I would still have 22-year-olds, straight out of university, giving me notes on stories set on council estates that said, ‘Would this character really say that?’. How would I know?, you’re clearly the expert, you tell me.”

Combative and dour as he might sound, Catley is a lot more than a chippy Northerner and truth is, he’s earned the right to speak his mind. Which he does regularly and entertainingly. He is working in Yorkshire for the first time in a while, his adaptation of Louise Rennison’s Angus, Thongs and Even More Snogging at West Yorkshire Playhouse opening tomorrow night.

It’s a return to the Playhouse stage, where he began his career with the play Sunbeam Terrace in 2002, before going on to become one of the BBC’s top writers.

It is remarkable that Sunbeam Terrace, set on the streets of Beeston where Catley was born and raised, was first seen just ten years ago. He followed up his impressive theatre debut in 2004 with his entertaining play Crap Dad and the brilliant Scuffer two years later. It was in 2006 that his career really took off though, with a place on the BBC’s training scheme the Writers’ Academy.

On graduation he went on to write for EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty, the final of these shows providing a home for the past five years

He rose rapidly through the ranks, was asked to write a season opener in 2007 and appointed, within the year, as the show’s lead writer. It didn’t stop there.

By 2009 he was consultant producer, the highest rank a writer has risen to in what the industry calls a “continuing drama”. Then, last year, he walked away. Taking not only a “sixty grand pay cut” it also meant he was turning his back on a very comfortable job with his feet well and truly under the desk at one of the BBC’s flagship dramas.

“I’d been there five years, then last year both the series producer and the executive producer left. I was told that the next exec brought in would have less editorial say and I would pretty much be given total editorial control,” he says.

“I had been thinking about leaving, but in the end the decision was taken away from me. The new producer clearly wanted full editorial control and was wanting writers to take more of a back seat. It’s the way it happens – a new top dog comes in, it’s new rules with everything being swept clear.

“All of a sudden everyone started singing to a different tune, but that’s just people wanting to protect their job. I totally understand that, but all of a sudden they are saying, ‘Yeah, yeah let’s do stuff in this direction’ and for the last five years they’d been saying, ‘We’re really enjoying this other direction’. It’s quite fickle.

“I’d spent the past five years arguing with the last executives and it became clear after a few weeks that things were going to be difficult. I didn’t want to spend another five years arguing, so I took it as a cue to get the hell out.”

When Catley adds that there was no bad blood and no bridges burnt, you might wonder if that’s really true, but there is another story about the writer from his early career that confirms he has the ability to speak his mind – explicitly so – and not have it jeopardise his career.

Very early on, when still a new TV writer, he found himself in an argument with several producers about something he had written in a Casualty script.

He won the argument, the scene stayed – and appeared on a highlight film made by the production company for the cast and crew Christmas party.

He “just knew” he was right. Which perhaps explains his success. An instinctive writer, his stories resonate with humour, truth and just a little edge.

It made him a perfect choice to adapt for the stage the 10 books of the Angus, Thongs... series written by Louise Rennison.

“Why did the Playhouse approach me? I have absolutely no idea. I’m the last writer in Leeds to be writing about teenage girls,” laughs Catley. “I had a phone call from the Playhouse out of the blue asking if I would be interested in adapting a book. I said, ‘Well, if it’s Catherine Cookson, then no, not particularly’.

“Soon as I met Louise it made sense. We’re both from Leeds, both massive Leeds (football) fans and when I read the books I got it – here’s a woman writing about her bonkers childhood, a very deep coming of age story, in the daftest way possible – a teenaged girl’s diary.”

It was also a good way for Catley to find his way back to theatre. He hasn’t turned his back on TV – the day after he left Casualty he was asked to write episodes of EastEnders and Holby City. It’s just that, clearly, he was growing tired of a certain aspect of working in continuing drama.

He says: “Even before the new exec came into Casualty, I had been thinking I should do something else.

“TV is a really snobbish business and even though shows like Casualty and EastEnders keep TV alive, are the bread and butter of the industry, get eight million viewers, they are looked down on by people in the industry.

“Producers of one-off dramas don’t regard it as equivalent to what they do, which is utter horses*** of the highest order. The snobbery in the industry is indicative of what it is made up of, which is a quite over-privileged lefty liberal elite – and a liberalism that is a Rizla paper away from conservatism.

“The problem is the same as it’s always been. British TV was set up by people with money, who then gave that money to other people to go away and make TV shows that they wanted to watch.

“The people with money now are the producers and the exec producers and the millions of layers of hierarchy that you have at the BBC and they are all trying to justify their existence and the only way an exec can justify their existence is by hiring and firing and making big decisions making sweeping changes.

“We have an industry that is run by people who don’t create the product. The product is created by directors and writers and actors and crew – and the people that run the industry and make the big decisions about what gets commissioned, what goes and what doesn’t go aren’t there at the ground level.”

Despite all this, Catley still loves the medium. He is developing an original series with the BBC based around military famililes. Called The Base, he is optimistic at seeing this on screen soon.

He’s also working with production company Red Planet on two shows – a drama and a sitcom and is working with collaborator Tom Bidwell (nominated for an Oscar for his short film Wish 143 last year) on a sitcom for Hat Trick Productions.

Which means plenty of opportunity for him to keep saying what he really wants to.

Angus, Thongs... West Yorkshire Playhouse to Mar 3. 0113 2137700.

Catley’s career highlights

Sunbeam Terrace: West Yorkshire Playhouse produced Catley’s first play in 2002, after being recommended by Max Stafford-Clark, who discovered Andrea Dunbar.

Scuffer: Catley’s 2006 play was the first written after training with the BBC and the expansive story and strong characters showed how his already strong craft was developing.

Casualty: Appointed lead writer in 2007, just a year after his first script for the show, Catley’s series opener in 2008 was nominated for a BAFTA.

Other: He has also written two radio plays and is developing several original TV series.