T H E SPECI A L AWA R D
NICOL A SHINDLER Words by Rich Matthews Photos courtesy of Red Production Company (portrait, Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax stills); Joss Barratt (Queer as Folk still); Shutterstock/
James Gourley (Happy Valley team at Television Awards 2017); BAFTA/ Guy Levy (Nicola Shindler at the Television Awards 2017)
fter more than 20 years at the top of the UK television pyramid, Nicola Shindler can’t help being a pragmatist. While talking about her dream to continue making the drama she loves, she quickly interjects, “But while being realistic and knowing it’s a business and that we have to give people what they want. You can’t forget that. You have to be aware of what’s going to get on television.” Shindler’s brand of practicality, however, stems from a genuine passion for the art form, storytelling and, most of all, writers. “Writing is the hardest job,” she says with clear affection. “Because they can do it in their pyjamas, people sometimes think it’s easy. It so isn’t – writing a really good script is astonishingly difficult. So much so that I don’t like to waste writers’ time. I’ll say, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get that made’, which is a horrible thing to have to say but it’s better than them writing something that never gets made. Everything I do comes from the writer’s voice. You have to understand what the writer’s trying to say, what they want us to do, how it should feel… It’s the best and hardest part of the job.” Before setting up Red Production Company – named for her beloved Manchester United – from her living room in 1998, aged 29, the fire of Shindler’s professional philosophy was sparked by her first job in television. “It was on the first series of Cracker,” she says. “Getting to listen to Jimmy McGovern – an incredible writer – was just so lucky. He taught me that you shouldn’t have any fear; that you should go for every
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