TWINS from Bolton have been named the people to watch in the film and television industry.

Paul and Michael Clarkson, aged 29, from Smithills, have been named Broadcast’s 2017 Hot Shots in the Category for writers. Professionals nominated writers who they considered the people under thirty to watch in the film and television industry in the UK.

The duo who went to Thornleigh Salesian College were nominated by renowned television executive Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, the founders of production company Bad Wolf. They put a call out for writers to adapt Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy, ‘His Dark Materials’, for the BBC and HBO.

And despite having no previous TV commissions, the pair stood out from the deluge of responses. Ms Tranter said: “Michael and Paul’s email stood out from the off by demonstrating a real tenacity, with specific eloquence and passion for the project. With their combination of a twin ‘hive mind’ alongside their different intellectual pursuits, passions and literary expertise, they are unique talents and we’re delighted to be working with them.They have helped prove to the author that the TV series can capture what a middling Hollywood movie version failed to accomplish.”

Michael graduated Reading University in 2009 after studying English Film and Theatre. He has completed a Masters in Screenwriting at the University of Southern Californian in Los Angeles and also won a Bafta Scholarship. Paul studied physics at Birmingham University and is about to complete a doctorate in nuclear physics and nanotechnology at Cambridge University. He has also completed a Channel 4 screenwriting course. Michael said: “It was a wonderful feeling, not just to be nominated but to be nominated by Jane Tranter, one of the most powerful producers in the UK. To read all of the lovely things she wrote about us was really touching.”

The pair are also juggling a virtual reality project for Wildseed Studios, Ink Factory’s adaptation of Nick Harkaway’s novel Angelmaker and working on Ecosse Films’ planned series based on Louise Welsh’s thriller trilogy Plague Times.

However, although the pair live in London, they are determined to bring their careers back to Bolton, and are working on a couple of projects such as a comedy series and a new thriller series which will be based in the town.