Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s first play Behsharam (Shameless) broke box office records at Soho Theatre and the Birmingham Rep in 2001. Her play I(Dishonour) was sensationally closed in December 2004, after playing to packed houses at the Birmingham Rep. In 2005, Iwon the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. In 2006, the play was translated into French and did sell-out tours in France and Belgium. Behzti was translated into Italian in 2012 and was performed in Bari, Italy.
In 2010 her follow up to Behzti - Behud was co-produced by Soho Theatre and Coventry Belgrade and shortlisted for the John Whiting Award.
As well as developing a contemporary romcom, she is now working on stage commissions for Birmingham Rep, Watford Palace Theatre and Kali Theatre. Gurpreet recently joined the writing team of The Archers.
Other credits include the British feature, Everywhere And Nowhere; DCI Stone, Radio 4, Londonee, Rich Mix; Dead Meat, Channel 4; Stitched Up (commissioned series for BBC1); Honour (single film BBC2); The Cleaner, hour-long film for BBC1; Pound Shop Boys (Film Council/Scottish Screen); Pile Up and The Bride (commissioned serials for Carlton Television); Come To Where I’m From (Paines Plough/Watford Palace Theatre); Two Old Ladies (Leicester Haymarket); Airport 2000 (Leicester Haymarket/Riverside Studios); An Enemy Of The People (BBC World Service); Mera Des, Radio 3; My Lithuanian Lady (World Service); thirty episodes of the BBC World Service Drama – Westway (1999-2001); nine episodes of Eastenders (2001-2004) and Hollyoaks (2011).
What's the point of the social sciences?
"The rules of the game at The Battle of Ideas makes beating about the bush impossible. When you are given 5 minutes to make your point, you either say something essential, or you reveal that you have nothing really to say. This eliminates 'the unbearable lightness' of speculation that haunts public debate."
Albena Azmanova, social philosopher, political commentator and activist