Episodes Broadcast: 2020

Charlene James' childhood interest in performance prompted her involvement with Stage2 Youth Theatre in Birmingham, West Midlands. Her passion later took her to Chicago, Illinois, where she trained at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. However, James' attention soon shifted to writing, and she joined a program for young playwrights at London's Royal Court Theatre. Her first script was 2009's Maybe Father, and her success over the next few years led to her appointment as writer-in-residence at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 2013. James' 2014 work Cuttin' It, about female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom, drew enormous critical acclaim. She made her television debut writing for The Break in 2016, followed by two 2018 scripts for the supernatural drama A Discovery Of Witches. James contributed Can You Hear Me? to Doctor Who's 2020 season. The story was unusual for its depiction of the mental health struggles which had confronted Yasmin Khan -- one of the companions to Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor -- in her youth. James went on to work with her Doctor Who colleague, Pete McTighe, on The Rising.