Peter Straughan (born 1968) is an English screenwriter. He won two BAFTA Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Conclave, with the latter also earning him the Academy Award in the same category.

Life and career

Early years and education

Straughan's first ambition was to be a professional musician and he achieved this while playing bass guitar with Newcastle-based band The Honest Johns. He spent four years touring and recording with the band through the late 1980s and into the early 1990s before leaving to take up full-time education at Newcastle University. While Straughan was a student he was also a member of the band Cactusman. He wrote the song "Killer", which appeared on the CD album North of London, a collection of music by North East bands released through Newcastle Arts.

Screenwriting

Straughan co-wrote the 2006 feature film, Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution and adapted Toby Young's memoir How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. He is the writer of the 2009 film The Men Who Stare at Goats, and co-writer of the 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay, a screenplay he wrote in collaboration with his late wife Bridget O'Connor. O'Connor died of cancer, aged 49, in 2010, before the film was released. They were awarded a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Straughan adapted Hilary Mantel's trilogy of novels set in the royal court of Henry VIII for television. The three novels Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror & the Light were adapted into the 2015 Wolf Hall television series and its 2024 sequel Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.

In 2025, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Conclave.

Filmography

Short film

YearTitleDirectorWriter
2011Gee GeeYesYes

Film writer

YearTitleDirector
2006Sixty SixPaul Weiland
2007Mrs Ratcliffe's RevolutionBille Eltringham
2008How to Lose Friends & Alienate PeopleRobert B. Weide
2009The Men Who Stare at GoatsGrant Heslov
2010The DebtJohn Madden
2011Tinker Tailor Soldier SpyTomas Alfredson
2014FrankLenny Abrahamson
2015Our Brand Is CrisisDavid Gordon Green
2017The SnowmanTomas Alfredson
2019The GoldfinchJohn Crowley
2024ConclaveEdward Berger
2028The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event †Sam Mendes

Television

YearTitleDirectorWriterNotes
2014Playhouse PresentsYesYesEpisode "Nosferatu in Love"
2015, 2024Wolf HallNoYes12 episodes
TBABerlin NoirNoYesUpcoming series

Accolades

YearTitleAward/Nomination
2011Tinker Tailor Soldier SpyBAFTA Award for Best British Film BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay British Film Bloggers Circle Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay International Cinephile Society Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay Italy Screenplay Award for Best International Adapted Screenplay Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Richard Attenborough Regional Film Awards for Best Screenplay San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Association of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay Nominated – USC Scripter Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2015Wolf HallNominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
2024ConclaveBAFTA Award for Best British Film Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay St. Louis Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Runner-up – Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Astra Film and Creative Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated – San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

See also

Notes

External links