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Steven Knight
CBE
Steven Knight CBE
	Knight in 2024
Born	1959 (age 64–65)
Alma mater	University College London
Occupations	Screenwriter; producer; film director;
Years active	1989–present
Children	7

Steven Knight CBE is a British screenwriter, producer, and director for film and television. He wrote the screenplays for the films Closed Circuit, Dirty Pretty Things, and Eastern Promises, and also wrote and directed the films Locke and Hummingbird (a.k.a. Redemption). Knight is one of three creators of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, a game show that has been remade and aired in around 160 countries worldwide. He is also the creator of the BBC's Peaky Blinders and has written for Commercial Breakdown, The Detectives, See, and Taboo.

He has built a large film and television studio complex in inner-city Birmingham called Digbeth Loc., opening in 2024.

Early life and education

Steven Knight was born in 1959 to George and Ida Knight, and grew up in Birmingham, in the West Midlands region of England. He was the youngest of seven children, five of them boys. His father was a blacksmith.^[1]^[2]

He attended The Streetly School as a teenager, in Streetly, Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands. He then went on to study English at University College London.^[1]

Career

After completing university, Knight returned to Birmingham and began writing radio commercials, before moving back to London, where he worked for Capital Radio. He first wrote television comedy, then novels, and then moved on to screenplays.^[1]

Screenplays

Before he created TV's Peaky Blinders, Knight was best known for screenplays he wrote for the films Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises. His work on the screenplay for Dirty Pretty Things earned him the Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay and London Film Critics Circle award for British Screenwriter of the Year.^[3] The screenplay was also nominated for several other awards including the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay^[4] and the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.^[5]

Knight wrote the screenplay for the 2013 film Closed Circuit, which was directed by John Crowley and which starred Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall.^{[citation needed]}

Knight wrote a draft of a screenplay based on the book Shutter Island written by Dennis Lehane, but the draft that was used for the movie of the same name was written by Laeta Kalogridis.^[6]

Recent films based on screenplays that Knight has written include The Hundred-Foot Journey directed by Lasse Hallström, based on the book of the same name by Richard C. Morais and starring Helen Mirren; Seventh Son, an adventure story starring Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington and Jason Scott Lee, as well as the film Pawn Sacrifice, based on U.S. chess champion Bobby Fischer, with Tobey Maguire playing Fischer in the film. He also wrote the screenplay of World War Z II.^[7]

Knight wrote the script for the 2021 dramedy Locked Down, about a couple (Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor) attempting a high-stakes jewellery heist during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[8] Knight later wrote the script for the film Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Diana, Princess of Wales.^[9]

In March 2023, it was reported that Knight would write the screenplay for an upcoming Star Wars film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, replacing Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson. The film is set to be a continuation to the Star Wars sequel trilogy, focusing on Rey Skywalker's attempts to bring back the Jedi Order.^[10]

In March 2023, it was announced that Knight would be writing the screenplay for a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo for Paramount Pictures, with Robert Downey Jr. eyed for the lead role.^[11]

Knight's writing sometimes involves "groups of men who are probably not the easiest people to fit into conventional society."^[12]

In March 2023, it was reported that Knight would write the screenplay for an upcoming Star Wars film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, replacing Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson. The film is set to be a continuation to the Star Wars sequel trilogy, focusing on Rey Skywalker's attempts to bring back the Jedi Order.^[13] However, by October 2024, Knight departed from the film.^[14]

Directing

In addition to his writing, Knight has directed three films: Hummingbird (2013), starring Jason Statham, Locke (2013), starring Tom Hardy, and Serenity (2019) starring Matthew McConaughey, Diane Lane, and Anne Hathaway. Locke won a British Independent Film Award in 2013 for Best Screenplay. Knight has directed several episodes of the TV series for which he also frequently wrote, The Detectives.^{[citation needed]}

In 2022, Knight was the co-director of the Opening Ceremony for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which took place on 28 July 2022.^{[citation needed]}

TV series

Knight also co-created the TV series game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (along with Mike Whitehill and David Briggs) and also is the creator of the TV series Show do Milhão and All About Me.^{[citation needed]}

Knight created the television series Peaky Blinders and has written for TV series including BBC's Commercial Breakdown (with Jimmy Carr), The Detectives, Comedy Playhouse (the episode "Wild Oats" in 1993), Frankie's On..., Auntie's Big Bloomers, Taboo, and Canned Carrott.^{[citation needed]}

He created and co-wrote A Christmas Carol, a dark adaptation of the Dickens story for BBC One in the UK and FX in the US, starring Guy Pearce as Scrooge and Andy Serkis as the Ghost of Christmas Past, as well as an adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations starring Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham. It was notable for its ending, which steered markedly from that of Dickens's original.^[15]

Studios

As of 2024^[update] Knight has been involved in establishing a new television and film studio complex, called Digbeth Loc.,^[1]^[16] in Digbeth, central Birmingham, opening in 2024.^[17] The complex would be a home for the band UB40, as well as providing filming facilities for a new Peaky Blinders film, and the BBC drama series This Town.^[18]

Awards and honours

Knight was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to drama, entertainment and the community in Birmingham.^[19]

Personal life and media appearances

As of August 2024^[update] Knight is living in Gloucestershire, and is married with seven children.^[1]

Knight was a guest on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 on 11 August 2024, selecting George Michael, Bulgarian folk music, and Harry Lauder (the latter a reference to his support of Birmingham City F.C.), among others. He spoke about a variety of topics, including chess, Charles Dickens, Diana, Princess of Wales, and the origins of the SAS.^[1]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
2001	Gypsy Woman	No	Yes	No
2002	Dirty Pretty Things	No	Yes	No
2006	Amazing Grace	No	Yes	No
2007	Eastern Promises	No	Yes	No
2013	Closed Circuit	No	Yes	No
	Hummingbird	Yes	Yes	No
	Locke	Yes	Yes	No
2014	The Hundred-Foot Journey	No	Yes	No
	Seventh Son	No	Yes	No
	Pawn Sacrifice	No	Yes	No
2015	Burnt	No	Yes	No
2016	Allied	No	Yes	Executive
2017	Woman Walks Ahead	No	Yes	No
2017	November Criminals	No	Yes	Executive
2018	The Girl in the Spider's Web	No	Yes	No
2019	Serenity	Yes	Yes	Yes
2021	Locked Down	No	Yes	No
2021	Spencer	No	Yes	Executive
2024	Maria	No	Yes	Executive
TBA	The Immortal Man	No	Yes	Yes

Television

Year	Title	Writer	Executive producer	Creator	Director	Notes
1989	Commercial Breakdown	Yes	No	No	No
1990–1992	Canned Carrott	Yes	No	No	No
1993–1997	The Detectives	Yes	No	No	Yes
1998–present	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?	Yes	No	Yes	No	Co-created with David Briggs and Mike Whitehill
2002–2004	All About Me	Yes	No	Yes	No
2013–2022	Peaky Blinders	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2017	Taboo	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Co-created with Tom Hardy and Chips Hardy
2019–2022	See	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2019	A Christmas Carol	Yes	Yes	No	No
2022	SAS: Rogue Heroes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2023	Great Expectations	Yes	Yes	No	No
2023	All the Light We Cannot See	Yes	No	Yes	No	Co-developed with Shawn Levy
2024	This Town	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2024	The Veil	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2025	A Thousand Blows	Yes	Yes	Yes	No