George Kay is an English television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator of the series Lupin, Criminal, Hijack, The Long Shadow, and War. He has also worked on the shows Litvinenko, Stag, My Mad Fat Diary, The Hour, The Tunnel, and the first season of Killing Eve.
Early life Whilst a teenage student at Wellington College, Berkshire, Kay met director Jim Field Smith, with whom he later founded Idiotlamp Productions.
Career Kay began his career in non-scripted entertainment, serving as head of development at Twenty Twenty Television and head of factual at Blast! Films, where he co-created productions such as The Choir, Evacuation, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Kay became a full-time writer in 2009, after he won the Brit List with his first feature script, Good Luck Anthony Belcher. He went on to write episodes of The Hour for the BBC, The Tunnel for Sky, My Mad Fat Diary for C4, and two episodes of the first season of Killing Eve.
Kay created his first comedy series, Stag, with Field Smith. They continued their collaborations with the anthology franchise Criminal for Netflix, both produced by their production company Idiotlamp, and Litvinenko, for ITV. Whilst writing the script for Litvinenko, Kay had access to transcripts of Alexander Litvinenko's 18 hours of deathbed interviews with the London Metropolitan Police. Litvinenko's widow, Marina, and the Metropolitan Police, supported the production of the series. The show has been sold to over eighty international territories.
For Netflix, Kay created the hit global series Lupin, based on the Arsène Lupin books, starring Omar Sy. The show debuted to critical acclaim, winning a Critics Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Series and being nominated for Best Drama Award at the International Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.
Kay subsequently created the series The Long Shadow for ITV, detailing the five-year manhunt for the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe. It was nominated for Best Drama at the 2024 British Academy Television Awards.
Observatory Pictures Kay founded his own label, Observatory Pictures, and inked a television deal with his co-producers New Pictures and All3Media in 2024.
The first show under Observatory was Gone (2026), starring David Morrissey and Eve Myles and co-produced by New Pictures.
In collaboration with Stockholm's B-Reel Films and New Pictures, Kay went on to create Blood Sacrifice for Netflix Sweden. The show follows a semi-estranged father-and-son detective duo who are brought back together when a mysterious killer strikes in Stockholm.
Kay's latest series is War, for HBO and Sky, starring Sienna Miller and Dominic West. It follows two rival legal firms battling it out on the UK's highest-profile divorce case in history.
Production on Kay's Apple TV series The Wanted Man, starring Hugh Laurie, took place in London in May and June 2025. It is set to premiere on 6 January 2027.
Filmography
+YearTitleWriterCreatorExecutiveproducerNotes2012The HourEpisode "Honey Trap"2013The TunnelEpisode 1.62014Our ZooEpisode 1.32015My Mad Fat Diary3 episodes2016StagCo-created and written with Jim Field Smith2018Killing Eve2 episodes2019–2020CriminalCo-created with Jim Field Smith2021–presentLupin2022Litvinenko2023The Long Shadow2023–presentHijackCo-created with Jim Field Smith2026GoneBlood Sacrifice 2026–presentWar2027
References
External links
Idiotlamp Productions Observatory Pictures