Niki Rooney

Niki won the Kudos North Writers Award in 2018, resulting in her original comedy Spoonies being optioned and a pilot script commissioned by the BBC.  The series is semi-autobiographical, based on her experiences of living with an invisible disability. 

She also has two original dark comedies, Boxtickers and Swipe Right, in development with Mike Ellen at Freedom Scripted Entertainment.   Niki has participated in Writers Rooms for Wall To Wall, The Beano, Balloon Entertainment and Sky Atlantic/Kudos. She was also a member of the BBC’s inaugural Comedy Scottish Voices group in 2019.

From 2020-2023, Niki wrote an episode of Swashbuckle for CBeebies, and three episodes of CBBC’s flagship show The Dumping Ground.  She has also written two episodes of a CBBC sitcom called Lagging created by Dan Berlinka.  She has recently been commissioned by CBBC/King Bert Productions to write an episode of series five of Malory Towers.  And she has written two episodes of the upcoming series of CBBC’s Odd Squad.

In October 2021, Niki was awarded a £15,000 grant from Screen Scotland and the BFI Network as part of the Short Circuits initiative to make an animated short comedy film called Living With It, with animator/director Holly Summerson and producer Reece Cargan.  Cast includes Lawrence Chaney (Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK winner), Annabelle Davies (The Dumping Ground, Star Wars, Willow) and stand up comedian Rachel Jackson (The Party’s Just Beginning). The film is screening at the Edinburgh Film Festival 2023.

Niki started her career on Hollyoaks, where she progressed quickly through the ranks, until she was Head of the Story Department by the age of twenty four.  She later joined the core writing team, writing 20 episodes over two years.  She is an experienced story producer and script editor. 

Niki has written 4 episodes of Ride, for Breakthrough Entertainment and Buccaneer Media. She created all of the live shows for CBeebies Land at Alton Towers, working on live action shows and immersive interactive experiences for brands such as The Furchester, Octonauts, Postman Pat, Bing, Hey Duggee, Mike the Knight, Mr Bloom’s Garden and Teletubbies!  She was commissioned to write a tween comedy horror podcast pilot called Bump In The Night for CBBC and her audio story Thistle and the Circle of Champions was commissioned for BBC Learning. 

Niki has given numerous talks on being a freelance writer, specifically around Disability Representation In Television and Film, and been a mentor for students on the Scottish Screen Academy’s MA Screenwriting and The Film and TV Charity.  In November 2022, Niki began performing stand up after completing a 6 week stand up workshop class via the Liverpool Comedy Trust. Her first gig was in front of 120 people at the Royal Court – she went on first and accidentally fell off the stage at the end.

Niki is a proud working class, disabled writer from Glasgow who chose her career path at the ripe old age of four after reading The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl and declaring her ambition to ‘be a writer and live in a shed’. She lives in a converted stable in Liverpool so that’s close enough.