Rachel is the co-adaptor and joint lead writer of Enid Blyton’s iconic boarding school stories, the Emmy– and two-time Canadian Screen Award-nominated international hit CBBC TV series Malory Towers, now in post-production on its 6th series (20 episodes).
Malory Towers Series 5 (20 new episodes) is now available in the US on BYU TV, and in the UK on the BBC iPlayer. Series 1-4 are also currently available on the BBC iPlayer, alongside the two-part Christmas Special.
Series 1 transmitted on CBBC from 6th April 2020 and was an early lockdown and critical hit: Pick of the Week in The Sunday Times, Mail Weekend and **** in The Guardian, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Mail Weekend, The i paper, and TV Times.
Malory Towers was Emmy– and Rockie-nominated in 2023, Rose d’Or-nominated in 2020 and 2022, and Canadian Screen Award-nominated in 2023 and 2024. There have been regular series preview screenings with cast Q&As at the British Film Institute on London’s South Bank, including an upcoming SOLD OUT preview of Series 6 on Saturday 14th December 2024.
Rachel is also the co-creator of the BBC1 detective series Father Brown , now going into its thirteenth series and 135th episode, and one of the most successful shows the BBC has ever syndicated. It has so far sold to 232 territories globally, with 90% carriage in America alone. The show transmits in weekend prime-time in territories including Australia (where it was the top-rating Saturday night drama) and the US. Season 12 will transmit in early 2025. Season 11 is currently available on the iPlayer.
Rachel and Father Brown co-creator Tahsin Guner continue to collaborate on original drama series development.
Rachel was on the writing team for ITV’s Anna Friel detective drama Marcella (S3, Netflix/ITV), and continued her collaboration with Marcella prodco Buccaneer when she joined the Whitstable S1 writers’ room. She also wrote two episodes of thriller series Sanctuary for Swedish indie Yellow Bird. This 8-part drama, adapted by Charlie Fletcher from the bestselling Scandi thriller The Devil’s Sanctuary, starred Josefin Asplund and Matthew Modine. Sanctuary (Himmelsdalen) transmitted internationally, including on Starzplay in the UK, Sundance Now in the US and Canada, and on Sweden’s TV4.
Rachel and her Malory Towers writing partner Sasha Hails also co-developed and co-wrote the BBC’s critically-acclaimed adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone (**** Telegraph, Financial Times, Daily Mail).
The Moonstone, directed by Lisa Mulcahy (Ripley Road, Years and Years, Blood S1), transmitted on BBC1 and the iPlayer from 31st October 2016, and repeated on BBC1 over Christmas 2016.
Rachel has been writing primetime British television drama for 20 years, including extensive work in BBC Continuing Drama, notably on EastEnders and Casualty.