Joe Ahearne
Writer-Director
Film, TV & Theatre
Film, TV & Theatre
Joe Ahearne is a writer-director across television and film. He wrote and directed psychological drama series The Replacement which was a critical and ratings hit with an audience of eight million and won the Scottish BAFTA for Best Series in 2017. He also created, wrote and directed vampire series Ultraviolet for C4 and SyFy, as well as horror series Apparitions for BBC. He wrote and directed episodes of This Life and drama doc Space Odyssey for BBC and Discovery which Fox adapted into scripted series Defying Gravity for ABC. In 2012 Joe wrote and directed ghost story The Secret of Crickley Hall for BBC from the James Herbert bestseller.
He was the director of five episodes of the first series of Doctor Who in 2005 for which he was BAFTA-nominated. His most recent work as director is Deadline for Viacom/C5 in 2022 and as writer is VR adventure Unearthed for Meta in 2023.
He wrote and directed television movie thriller Trance and co-wrote the feature adaptation directed by Danny Boyle and starring James McAvoy. His debut feature as a writer and director, gay thriller B&B, was released in 2017.
He has also written for Marvel Comics on Fantastic Four and Iron Man.
Film
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
B & B 2017 | Hummingbird Films / Creative England | Writer & Director |
TRANCE 2013 | Cloud Eight Films | Co-Writer with John Hodge |
Television
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
SIJAINEN 2022 | Elisa Viihde/Helsinki-Filmi | TV Mini Series |
DEADLINE 2022 | Chalkboard/Channel 5 | As director. Starring James D'Arcy |
THE REPLACEMENT 2017 | Left Bank / BBC | As Writer & Director. Starring Vicky McClure, Morven Christie and Dougray Scott. |
DA VINCI'S DEMONS 2013 | Starz/BBC Worldwide | As Writer |
THE SECRET OF CRICKLEY HALL 2012 | BBC | As Writer/Director: 3 x 1 hr |
APPARITIONS 2008 | Lime Pictures/BBC | As Writer x 6 eps |
THIS LIFE + 10 2007 | World/ BBC | As Director |
PERFECT PARENTS 2006 | Granada/ITV | TV Movie Winner: Maximo Diamond Award, Rome Fiction Festival 2007 |
DOCTOR WHO 2005 | BBC Wales for BBC 1 | As Director: 5 x 45 min Winner: Best Drama Series, BAFTA Television Awards, 2006 |
SPACE ODYSSEY 2004 | BBC/Discovery | As Writer/Director: 2 x 1hr |
STRANGE 2003 | BBC | As Director |
DARK REALM 2001 | Warner Bros. | As Director |
TRANCE 2001 | Icon/Sky | TV Movie |
PARENTS' NIGHT 2001 | Tiger Aspect/Channel 4 | As Writer: 1 x 1hr |
ULTRAVIOLET 1998 | World/Channel 4 | As Writer/Director: 6 x 1hr |
THIS LIFE 1997 | BBC/World | As Director: x 3 eps Winner: Writers’ Guild Award 1997 |
Short Films
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
LATIN FOR A DARK ROOM 1994 | BBC/Tartan Shorts | As Director Best of the Fest Edinburgh Film Festival 1994 |