Ashley Way

Director

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Film, TV & Theatre

Agent: Michelle Archer

Michelle Archer

Associate Agent: Grace Baxter

gbaxter@unitedagents.co.uk

Film, TV & Theatre

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Ashley recently directed MEN UP, executive-produced by Russell T Davies, for BBC/ Quay Street Productions. Prior to this he was lead director on WHO IS ERIN CARTER? for Netflix/ Left Bank, which reached No.1 in the Netflix charts in 55 countries in its first week of release in August 2023.

Recent credits include the last two episodes of RIPPER STREET for Tiger Aspect/Amazon, the finale of Ron Howard’s MARS for Nat Geo and several episodes on the first two series of Antoine Fuqua's crime drama, ICE, for Audience Network, starring Donald Sutherland and Ray Winstone. He returned to South Africa, directing on Left Bank’s sci-fi show ORIGIN, for YouTube Red/Sony, followed by the Ibizan drama WHITE LINES for Netflix, before directing all five episodes of the Manchester-set thriller VIEWPOINT for ITV/ Tiger Aspect.

Early credits include prime-time British television shows DOCTOR WHO, TORCHWOOD and MERLIN. Ashley was BAFTA-nominated for his work on THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES and won Best Director (Fiction) for the Welsh miner’s strike drama Y STREIC A FI (The Strike and Me) at the BAFTA Cymru Awards, which also won Best Television Drama.

MEN UP Reviews

Lucy Mangan - The Guardian - 5* “Tonally, it’s a masterpiece by writer Matthew Barry and director Ashley Way that never undercuts or overeggs a moment.”

Rachael Sigee - iNews - 5* - “As a film with the right balance of laughs, tears and sentimentality and as a sensitive study of masculinity, Men Up was a triumph. The little blue pill might not have been magic, but the drama certainly was.”

Benji Wilson - The Telegraph - 4* “More a love letter to male friendship than to the little blue pills, this touching true-life drama is filled with humour and humanity.”

VIEWPOINT Reviews

Lucy Mangan - The Guardian - 4* “… an intense, stylish, emotionally intelligent and psychologically plausible thriller that controls itself beautifully while still delivering the goods.”

Sean O'Grady - The Independent - 4* “I loved the dark, claustrophobic feel of the piece"

Television

Production	Company	Notes
MEN UP 2023	BBC / Quay Street Productions	Director and Executive Producer. Writer: Matthew Barry. Producer: Karen Lewis. Executive Producers: Nicola Shindler, Davina Earl, Rachel Evans, Russell T Davies and Rebecca Ferguson. Starring: Iwan Rheon, Aneurin Barnard, and Alexandra Roach. Winner for Best Drama, RTS Cymru Awards 2024 Winner of Best TV Film at the C21 Awards, 2024 *Winner for Best Feature Length Film, Rockie Awards 2024 Nominated for Best Single Drama, RTS Awards 2024 Nominated for Best Feature/TV Film at the BAFTA Cymru Awards 2024 Nominated for Best Director at the BAFTA Cymru Awards 2024 Nominated for Best Writer at the BAFTA Cymru Awards 2024 - Matthew Barry Nominated for Best Actress at the BAFTA Cymru Awards 2024 - Alexandra Roach Nominated for Best Sound Team at the BAFTA Cymru Awards 2024 Nominated for Best Single Drama at Broadcast Awards 2025
WHO IS ERIN CARTER? 2022	Left Bank Pictures/Netflix	Lead Director. 4 Episodes. Writer: Jack Lothian. Producer: Nuala O’Leary Executive Producer: Rob Bullock
VIEWPOINT 2020 - 2021	Tiger Aspect / ITV	Director (all five episodes) and Executive Producer. Writer: Ed Whitmore Producer: Juliet Charlesworth Executive Producer: Lucy Bedford
WHITE LINES 2019	Left Bank/ Netflix	Director, 3 episodes. Showrunner: Álex Pina Exec Producers: Andy Harries, Sharon Hughff, Álex Pina, Cristina Lopez Ferraz. When the body of a legendary Manchester DJ is discovered twenty years after his mysterious disappearance in Ibiza, his sister returns to the island to investigate the dark, thrilling world of dance music, super yachts, and lies. *Nominated for Best Director at BAFTA Cymru Awards, 2021.
ORIGIN 2018	Left Bank/YouTube Red	Director, 2 episodes. Writer: Mika Watkins. Executive Producers: Mika Watkins, Rob Bullock, Andy Harries, Suzanne Mackie. A chilling scifi drama, in which a group of strangers struggle for survival aboard a spaceship heading to a distant planet. *Nominated for Best Digital Short Series, C21 Awards
ICE II 2018	Audience Network/Entertainment One	Director. 1 x 60'. Starring Ray Winstone, Jeremy Sisto, Cam Gigandet, Donald Sutherland. Showrunner: Robert Munic. Exec Producer: Antoine Fuqua.
MARS 2017	Imagine/Nat Geo	Writers: Ben Young Mason, Justin Wilkes. Executive Producers: Ron Howard, Brian Grazer.
ICE 2017	Audience Network/ Entertainment One	Director. 2 x 60'. Crime drama exploring the legal and illegal sides of diamond sales and international smuggling. Starring Ray Winstone, Jeremy Sisto, Cam Gigandet, Donald Sutherland. Showrunner: Robert Munic. Exec Producer: Antoine Fuqua.
RIPPER STREET 5 2016	Tiger Aspect/ Amazon	2 x 60', including the last two ever episodes. Writer: Richard Warlow. Producer: John Rushton. Exec Producer: Will Gould.
HOMELAND 5 2015	Fox 21 Television Studios/ Showtime	2nd Unit Director, episodes 10-12. Starring Claire Danes. Producer: Michael Klick. Exec Producers: Alex Gansa, Lesli Linka Glatter.
THE BASTARD EXECUTIONER 2015	FX/ Fox 21 (US)	2 x 60', including series finale. New series. Starring Stephen Moyer, Katey Sagal, Lee Jones, Matthew Rhys. Showrunner: Kurt Sutter. Producer: Jon Pare. Exec Producers: Paris Barclay, Brian Grazer, Kurt Sutter, Francie Calfo.
STELLA 5 2015	Tidy/ Sky One	2 x 60'. Producer: Spencer Campbell.
PARCH 2015	Boom Productions / S4C	4 x 60'. Producer: Paul Jones.
Y STREIC A FI (THE STRIKE AND ME) 2015	Alfresco / Boom Pictures Cymru / S4C	Director, 90' film. Drama centred on events of the Welsh miner's strike of the 1980's. Writer: Gywneth Lewis. Producers: Lowri Glain, Ronw Protheroe. Winner, Best Director: Fiction, and Best Television Drama, BAFTA Wales Awards, 2015. Nominated for Best Writer at BAFTA Wales Awards, 2015.
STELLA 4 2014	Tidy Productions	4 x 60', including opening episode. Producer: Spencer Campbell. Exec Producers: Ruth Jones, David Peet.
CASUALTY 2014	BBC	Director.
STELLA 3 2013	Tidy Productions	2 x 60'. Producer: David Peet. Exec Producers: Ruth Jones, David Peet.
FRANKIE 2012	BBC 1	2 x 60'. Producer: Erika Hossington . Exec Producer: Hilary Salmon.
MERLIN 5 2012	Shine/ BBC 1	3 x 45'. Producer: Julian Murphy. *Nominated Best Drama Series at National Film and Television Awards, 2013.
MERLIN 3 2010	Shine/ BBC 1	2 x 45'. 'The Sorcerer's Shadow' and 'Queen of Hearts'. Producer: Julian Murphy. *Nominated for Best International Programme Sales, Broadcast Awards, 2011.
THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES 2010	BBC Wales for BBC 1	8 x 30'. Writers: Russell T Davies (2 x eps), Gareth Roberts (2 x eps). Producer: Brian Minchin. Exec Producers: Russell T Davies, Nikki Wilson. Winner of Best Children's Drama, RTS Awards, 2011. Nominated for Best Drama Series, Children's BAFTA Awards, 2011. *Nominated for Best Children's Programme, Broadcast Awards, 2011.
DOCTOR WHO 5 2009	BBC 1	Director. 2 x 60'. 'The Hungry Earth' and 'Cold Blood'. Writer: Chris Chibnall. Series Producer: Beth Willis.
CRASH 2009	Red Planet for BBC Wales	Lead Director. 2 x 60'. New series. Exec Producer: Tony Jordan.
TORCHWOOD 2 2008	BBC 2	Director, 4 x 50', series 2. Exec Producer: Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner.
BELONGING 8 2007	BBC Wales	6 x 30'. Gritty contemporary drama series, with Eve Myles.
TORCHWOOD 2006	BBC3	Director, series 1 finale. 2 x 50' episodes. *BAFTA Wales winner – Best Drama Series.
SMALL COUNTRY 2006	Green Bay / S4C	4 x 60' (dual-language). Period drama with Tom Ellis, Mark Lewis-Jones. *BAFTA Wales winner – Best Drama Serial.
CASUALTY 2005	BBC1	2 x 50' episodes.
BELONGING 7 2005	BBC Wales	5 x 30' episodes. Contemporary drama with Charles Dale, Eve Myles.
BELONGING 6 2004	BBC Wales	5 x 30' episodes.

Film

Production	Company	Notes
HOODLUM & SON 2003	Sky	Writer and Director. 35mm feature film. Starring Robert Vaughn, Ron Perlman, Mia Sara.
ASKARI 2001	Sky	Writer. 35mm feature film (South Africa). Starring Marlee Matlin, C.Thomas Howell.

Short Films

Production	Company	Notes
DAD 2015	European Broadcast Union	Director. Producer: Sophie Fante. *Winner, Best Short Film, Camarthen Bay Film Festival, 2015.

Online

Production	Company	Notes
DOCTOR WHO 2005	BBC1	1x20'. Interactive episode with David Tennant. Producer: Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner. *BAFTA craft nomination.
DOCTOR WHO 2005	BBC1	13x1' "Tardisodes". Mini-episodes for internet transmission.