AUTHOR WORKROOM · BOOKS REMAIN CENTRAL

The screenwriter, playwright and journalist beside the novelist.

Horowitz did not “move on” from books into television. He built two careers in parallel, letting the discipline of scripts sharpen novels while books supplied worlds, structures and obsessions that could migrate to screen.

Major career milestones

  1. 1980sEarly television scripts include Robin of Sherwood; the first Diamond Brothers film follows in 1988.
  2. 1991–2001Eleven Poirot dramatisations build a sustained apprenticeship in adapting fair-play mystery.
  3. 1997Midsomer Murders launches from Caroline Graham’s novels; Crime Traveller joins detection to science fiction.
  4. 2000–2002Stormbreaker launches Alex Rider; Foyle’s War begins its long television life.
  5. 2011–2016Authorised Holmes and Bond novels expand the literary career while New Blood returns to original BBC crime drama.
  6. 2022–2026The Susan Ryeland adaptations make Horowitz creator, screenwriter and executive producer of his own nested mysteries.

How television writing entered the story

Horowitz’s first-person essays connect his early advertising work with speed and energy. Television then offered the same virtues under harder constraints: scenes must turn, information must be visible, and an act must end at exactly the right pressure point. Work on Robin of Sherwood led into Christie adaptation; Poirot taught compression without losing a clue; Midsomer Murders turned an existing village world into repeatable screen architecture; Foyle’s War finally joined original mystery construction to sustained historical research.

That is why the book and television careers belong on the same timeline: they exchange craft rather than form a before-and-after story.

Five permanent television files

ADAPTER · 11 STORIESAgatha Christie’s Poirot

Eleven Christie puzzles adapted across the David Suchet television canon.

ORIGINAL ADAPTER · EARLY SERIESMidsomer Murders

Caroline Graham’s Barnaby world becomes one of British television’s most durable murder landscapes.

CREATOR · WRITER · EXECUTIVE PRODUCERFoyle’s War

A murder series that uses the detective form to open less familiar rooms in wartime history.

CREATOR · WRITER · BBC ONENew Blood

Two junior investigators from different institutions discover that modern power hides behind paperwork.

CREATOR · 1997 · BBC ONECrime Traveller

A detective series in which time travel complicates the crime instead of solving it for free.

Film screenplays

1988Just Ask for Diamond

Horowitz adapts The Falcon’s Malteser for Stephen Bayly’s feature; the film establishes Nick and Tim’s screen pairing.

2002 / 2003 RELEASE HISTORYThe Gathering

An original supernatural-horror screenplay starring Christina Ricci, centred on amnesia, a buried church and witnesses to violence.

2006Stormbreaker

Horowitz adapts the first Alex Rider novel for Geoffrey Sax’s feature and is also credited as an executive producer.

CREDIT RULEScreenplay is not source authorship

The guide shows whether a film begins with Horowitz’s own book, an original screen story, or another creator’s material.

Theatre work

Mindgame

A psychological thriller set in a mental hospital, first performed in Colchester in 1999 before a West End transfer and later productions.

A Handbag

A short play commissioned for the National Theatre’s New Connections programme, playing knowingly with The Importance of Being Earnest.

Dinner With Saddam

A dark political comedy directed by Lindsay Posner, opening at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2015.

Adaptation boundary

These are original theatre works. They are not evidence of stage adaptations of Horowitz novels.

Journalism

The official archive preserves first-person pieces on school, family, work, cinema, money and the movement from page to screen. This site uses those essays as attributed evidence, not as permission to turn every anecdote into psychological diagnosis.

Lectures and festival appearances

2012 · YORK FESTIVAL OF IDEASAnthony Horowitz in conversation

The University of York presented its graduate discussing his life and writing.

2023 · PENGUINThe art of the murder-mystery twist

A publisher-hosted masterclass and interview focused on construction rather than a promotional quotation stripped of context.

2024 · HAY FESTIVALBooks and the continuing Bond debate

Festival reporting describes a public discussion of period character, authorship and literary freedom.

CURRENT LISTINGS · 20 SEP 2026No event currently listed

The official events page currently shows no forthcoming appearance. Archived appearances are history, not a promise of attendance.

Awards and honours

DateRecognitionWhat it means
2003BAFTA Lew Grade Audience Award for Foyle’s WarProgramme recognition; not a book prize.
2014Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)New Year Honours recognition for services to literature.
2018Fellow of the Royal Society of LiteratureElection to the UK literary fellowship.
2022Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)A higher rank in the same order, again for services to literature; it does not erase the earlier OBE date.
2023Edgar Award, Best Television Episode TeleplayEpisode one of Magpie Murders.

Sources

Roles, dates and production shapes were checked against Horowitz’s official catalogue and named institutions on 20 September 2026.