Tim Firth

Tim Firth (born 1964, Wirral, Merseyside) is an English dramatist, screenwriter and songwriter.

Tim Firth was born in the North West of England on the border of Cheshire and Lancashire. He spent most of his time at his Warrington comprehensive school writing songs and it was only a couple of months before going to Cambridge to read English that he attended an Arvon Foundation course in West Yorkshire. This was run by Willy Russell and whilst on it, Firth had to write dialogue. He wrote about the only thing he knew - two sixteen-year-olds trying to write a song. Another course participant optioned it for his production company and Firth decided to become a writer. While at Cambridge he joined the Footlights where his contemporaries included David Baddiel and Nick Hancock.

On leaving Cambridge, he was invited to meet Alan Ayckbourn in Scarborough and commissioned to write a play for the studio theatre for the Stephen Joseph Theatre. His one-act play Man Of Letters was a success and led to the commissioning of a full-length play from Ayckbourn, Neville's Island, which later transferred to the West End and has been seen in translation all round the world and has been in almost continuous production since its premier.

In 2004 Firth released a solo album, Harmless Flirting, completing a tour of words and music with fellow playwright Willy Russell that won positive reviews at the Edinburgh Festival.

During two successive Christmas runs, the stage version of The Flint Street Nativity at the Liverpool Playhouse became the most successful production in the theatre's history, breaking box office records.

Calendar Girls, adapted by Firth from his own film, found favour with audiences across the UK during its 2008/09 tour, and in the process broke the all time British box office record for a play and also continued to sell out during its West End residency. In 2010, the hit comedy embarked on a UK country wide tour, one of the largest ever for a play. Calendar Girls is also a success across the globe, playing in Athens, Oslo and Buenos Aires, plus a tour of major cities across Australia is currently underway (April 2010).

In March 2010, Firth was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Literature by the University of Chester.