Writers’ Group: Malpractice: Q&A with writer Grace Ofori-Attah and on-screen talent Niamh Algar and Helen Behan

This month’s writers’ group will take a special look at the hit medical thriller Malpractice.

Written by former NHS doctor Grace Ofori-Attah, Dr Lucinda Edwards (Niamh Algar) is a smart, battle-hardened doctor, but we meet her on a nightmare shift that ends in the death of an opioid overdose patient, Edith Owusu. Despite the support of her medical supervisor, Dr Leo Harris (James Purefoy), Edith’s grieving father Sir Anthony Owusu (Brian Bovell), demands an inquiry into Lucinda’s actions on the fateful night.

Through the cat and mouse thriller of the medical investigation, Malpractice tells the story of a damaged doctor caught up in a dangerous conspiracy.

Bringing together creator and writer Grace Ofori-Attah and on-screen talent Niamh Algar (Dr Lucinda Edwards) and Helen Behan (Dr Norma Callahan), in conversation with host Christina Pickworth the panel will discuss the making of the series from idea to screen, exploring the working relationship between writers and actors in production and offering insight to their crafts.

Grace Ofori-Attah

Grace read Medicine at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and worked as a consultant psychiatrist in Camden and Islington before switching to screenwriting full time. At university, she could often be found writing stories in the college library and during her medical career, she discovered a love of screenwriting. Grace was selected as the first ever Writer’s Apprentice for Carnival Film & Television and was also selected for the 4Screenwriting 2017 scheme. In 2017 Grace was included on the BBC’s New Talent Hotlist and she was selected as a BAFTA Elevate writer in 2018. That year, Grace got her first screenwriting credit on the Sky Comedy series In The Long Run, whilst she was still working part-time as an NHS doctor. Malpractice, Grace’s first original drama series inspired by her real-life medical experience, aired in April 2023 on ITV.

Helen Behan

Helen Behan is a BAFTA nominated Irish actress who has worked extensively in British television.

Helen played Evelyn in British mini-series This Is England ‘88, written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne, a spin-off of Shane Meadow’s 2006 film, This Is England. She then went on to work with Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne again in 2015 as ‘Helen’ in This Is England ‘90.

In 2020, Helen gained a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anna in The Virtues for Channel 4, starring alongside Stephen Graham and Niamh Algar.

Additional television credits include Elizabeth is Missing, alongside Maggie Steed, Sophie Rundle and Glenda Jackson, directed by Aisling Walsh for BBC One, AMC’s science fiction anthology series Soulmates, created by William Bridges and Brett Goldstein, Swedish supernatural psychological thriller The Box, and Channel 5’s Intruder, directed by Gareth Tunley.

Helen also starred in ITV’s Holding, directed by Kathy Burke. The series was adapted by Graham Norton with Karen Cogan and Dominic Treadwell-Collins from his novel of the same name.

On the big screen, Helen starred as Joanne in the Irish drama thriller film Wildfire, directed by Cathy Brady and played mother to George McKay in the high concept arthouse drama Wolf, directed by Nathalie Biancheri.

Helen was recently on our screens in ITV medical drama, Malpractice, and will next be seen alongside Cillian Murphy in the feature adaptation of Claire Keegan’s acclaimed novel Small Things Like These.

Niamh Algar

Niamh is a two-time BAFTA and BIFA nominated Irish actress who has also won two IFTA awards. In 2018 she was included in Screen International’s Screen Stars of Tomorrow and in 2019 she was named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit. She has taken the industry by storm, working with some of the most esteemed filmmakers of our time on both the small and big screen. 

Niamh can currently be seen in the Disney+ series Culprits, also starring Gemma Arterton, which follows the aftermath of a heist. Niamh plays 'Specialist', a ruthless assassin, in the action packed thriller. 

Earlier this year, Niamh starred in Malpractice, the medical drama from World Productions (Line of Duty), penned by former doctor Grace Ofori-Attah. Niamh led the cast as Lucinda Edwards, a troubled doctor who faces an enquiry against her potential fault in the death of a patient. The critically acclaimed series was directed by Boiling Point’s Phillip Barantini and aired on ITV and ITVX. 

Niamh has been announced to star in the new film Mooring opposite Charlotte Rampling. In addition, she will star in Mary and George – the forthcoming historical drama series starring Julianne Moore, Tony Curran, and Nicholas Galitzine. Niamh will play Sandie, a close confidante of Mary Villiers (Moore) as she plots to use her son to seduce King James I. The miniseries is the latest work from acclaimed director Oliver Hermanus (Living, Moffie). 

Following its premiere at the 2022 London Film Festival, Niamh was seen in The Wonder alongside Florence Pugh. The Netflix film was based on the book by Emma Donoghue (Room) and directed by Sebastian Lelio. The Wonder received several BIFA nominations including ‘Best Ensemble Cast’ – for Niamh and her fellow castmates – and ‘Best British Independent Film.’ 

In early 2022, Niamh was nominated for a TV BAFTA Award for her leading role in Channel 4’s Deceit. The drama released last summer and is based on the true events following the murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992. At the same time, Niamh’s film Censor released in cinemas following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is a psychological horror directed by Prano Bailey-Bond which follows Niamh’s character ‘Enid,’ a film censor who starts to lose her grasp on reality after watching a 1980s video nasty. 

In 2022 Niamh reprised her role in HBO Max’s Raised by Wolves. Niamh stars alongside Travis Fimmel and Amanda Collin in the post-apocalyptic epic saga. The first series was released on HBO Max and SKY Atlantic in 2020, and Niamh was nominated for an IFTA award for the role. In 2020 Niamh played ‘Ursula’ alongside Barry Keoghan and Cosmo Jarvis in Calm with Horses. Niamh’s performance led to her first BAFTA Film nomination in the ‘Supporting Actress’ category. She also received two nominations at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) in the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ and ‘Most Promising Newcomer’ categories. She won an Irish Film and TV Award (IFTA) for her performance in the role in the ‘Best Actress in a Supporting Role’ category. The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival and released in the US under the title The Shadow of Violence. 

In 2020 Niamh won an IFTA award for ‘Best Actress in a Lead role in Drama’ for her performance in Shane Meadow’s devastating mini-series The Virtues. She was also nominated in the ‘Rising star Category’ in the same year. The series aired in May 2019 on Channel 4, receiving phenomenal critical acclaim. 

Other credits include MotherFatherSon and Pure. She also starred in The Bisexual as Tania in October 2018, The Drummer and the Keeper and Guy Ritchie’s revenge thriller, Wrath of Man.

Host

Christina Pickworth, Agent, Imagine Talent

Christina is an agent for writers and directors at a small, bespoke agency Imagine Talent, with a list that focuses on emerging talent and female voices. Christina has written feature films, consulted for production companies and financiers, and freelanced at United Agents, as well as spending several years working in film development finance for a fund that invested in 300 British film projects over three years. Christina has previously sat on the selection committee for the BAFTA Rocliffe screenwriting competitions, and she consults for Stage 32, Industrial Scripts and Reel One Entertainment.

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