Dr Roger Cottrell PhD

Veteran crime and investigative journalist Roger Cottrell worked as a reporter for nearly 20 years before attending film school in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin. After a primary degree in Modern World History and Sociology he served an indenture-ship on a local evening paper in the West Midlands before securing his NCTJ, then moved to Bristol where he worked for a news agency providing local copy for national print media and HTV television news. In the 1990s he switched to broadcast and television news and current affairs coverage most significantly at World-in-Action, under the late, great Gavin McFadyen, with whom he retained contact until the latter’s death. Concurrent with this, Roger secured an M.Phil in Middle Eastern Politics and was a war correspondent in Iraq and Bosnia. In 2001 he began (and later secured) a taught MA in movie script writing from Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design Technology which was followed by a PhD in English Literature at Queen’s University Belfast. His research title focused on British crime fiction as a lens to social and political commentary.

Immediately on graduation Roger secured employment in the British University sector until February 2024. Subsequently he worked in FE teaching and did some commissioned work adapting novels. He now writes full time and his portfolio is substantial. Roger’s writing is most definitely on the darker side of the street and includes noir crime, retrospective noir, modern Gothic, supernatural thrillers and dystopian science fiction. His primary influences include Ronan Bennet, Stephen Knight, Jed Mercurio and much Scandinavian Noir. Roger writes novels and screenplays for film and (mainly) TV.