Emmy award for Exeter writer

Abi (English and Drama 1991) picked up the award at the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles.

“Whoa! Goodness me, this is such an incredible honour. What an amazing group of nominees,” she told the audience.

She received the outstanding writer award for a movie, mini series or dramatic special. The Hour was shown on BBC2 in the UK and also on BBC America.

Abi’s one of the one of the leading writers for film, theatre and television in the UK.

In 2001 her play Tender earned her a nomination for most promising playwright in the Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards.

She was subsequently commissioned by Channel 4 to create a story about a teenage girl trafficked from the Balkans to Britain – the hard-hitting drama Sex Traffic. Success followed with her film adaptation of the best-selling novel Brick Lane.

Two productions she has written for have won awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) - Sex Traffic (Drama Serial Award) in 2004 and White Girl (Single Drama Award) in 2008. In 2012 she was nominated for a BAFTA for her screenplay depicting the life of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the film The Iron Lady.

Clutching her Emmy tightly Abi said at the awards ceremony: “When I came through immigration ....the very nice immigration man didn’t believe I was coming to the Emmys and I might be able to show him I did come.”