Long Story TV was established in 2020 by Paul Marquess (London Kills, Suspects, The Bill, Footballers’ Wives) and Donna Wiffen (The Bill, Crime Stories, Murder Investigation Team). 

The company works with established and emerging talent to produce popular, returning television drama.  Long Story’s USP is that it produces top-quality drama on cost-effective budgets.  The company has excellent relationships with broadcasters in the UK and North America – and has been instrumental in putting together innovative deals to fund drama production.  

Our People

Paul Marquess

As well as inventing the international hit Footballers’ Wives, Paul Marquess was Executive Producer of The Bill and Family Affairs – and Head Of Drama at Thames Television.  Paul also Series Produced Brookside and Hollyoaks for C4.  He created Murder Investigation Team for ITV – as well as Crime Stories for ITV Daytime and five series of improvised police drama Suspects for C5 – which was remade in both Germany and The Netherlands.  Paul has recently completed production on series 3 & 4 of his crime drama London Kills (Acorn TV in North America and BBC1 in the UK) – and on series 2 of Hope Street, the Northern Irish drama he co-created with Susanne Farrell for the BBC and Britbox North America.

Donna Wiffen

Donna Wiffen has held senior production, managerial and strategic positions for both UK and International companies – managing budgets up to £60m per annum.  As Head of Global Drama at FremantleMedia, Donna was responsible for the development and production of drama in 23 territories. Donna is currently CEO of independent drama label Long Story TV.  Alongside Paul Marquess Donna has Executive Produced 36 hours of Drama in the past 18 months. Hope Street BBC/Britbox 20 hours, London Kills for Acorn TV 20 hours and psychological thriller The Light in the Hall for S4C/C4/Sundance Now.

Claire Fryer

Claire Fryer joined Long Story TV after working as a freelance Script and Story Executive for BBC Studios, Character 7/Lionsgate, Shine TV and Big Light in drama production and development. A former Head of Development with Newman Street, she worked on original series Suspects (C5) and Crime Stories. Prior to that Claire was on several UK drama series including Hollyoaks, Waterloo Road and The Bill.