Andrea Gibb

Gibb was born in Greenock Scotland She studied drama and sociology at Glasgow University and then did a postgraduate teaching degree at Manchester Polytechnic before going on to do an acting course at the Drama Studio London She acted regularly in theatre and television before she started writing Her most highprofile role was as Deirdre Calum Buchanans girlfriend in All Creatures Great and Small When I was doing All Creatures I had absolutely no desire no intention no belief that I could write recalled Gibb in 2016 It never occurred to me and it was never something I imagined myself doing in the future My writing career just happened almost accidentally and now I dont act very much at all Occasionally Ill do the odd short film for a friend I did a theatre job about three years ago that I absolutely loved I miss actors and I miss that sense of camaraderie You become a family I had just moved from London up to Liverpool because my partner at the time was made the associate director of the Everyman Theatre so I moved with him I was doing a fair bit of acting in the North West around Liverpool including at the Everyman but I still had a London agent so I was going down for auditions all the time She rang me and asked if Id be interested in going up for All Creatures Great and Small because they were looking for a Scottish character At first I thought it was to play a vet and I was really excited then I read the script and of course it transpired that Deirdre worked at the Ministry of Agriculture Gibb was also a regular presenter on the childrens television programme Lets Pretendcitation needed She was shortlisted for The Dennis Potter Award with her screenplay Lucky Bag and then went on to win a Mental Health Media Award for the film Golden Wedding which she wrote for BBC Scotland She then wrote the screenplays for Dear Frankie and AfterLife Both these films were shot in her home town of Greenock at exactly the same time She has a small cameo role in Dear Frankie Gibb was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and the BAFTA Scotland award for best Screenwriter She was nominated for a Scotland on SundayGlenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award and won the Scottish Screen Bowmore filmmaker of the year award in 2005 She also won the Women in Film and Television Script award for her work on these two filmscitation needed Gibb is currently in development with several projects including highprofile adaptations of Swallows and Amazons for BBC Films Vikram Seths An Equal Music for Cuba Pictures Rose Tremains The Road Home for BBC 2 and Andrea Gilliess Keeper for BBC1