Martin Smith

Director / Writer

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Film, TV & Theatre

Assistant: Nacho Martin

Film, TV & Theatre

Martin is a BAFTA winning filmmaker whose short TRACKS - a naturalistic portrayal of children's cruelty in a powerful, raw and affecting film - won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Short Film.

Next up he has been lead director on GRANITE HARBOUR for LA Productions and BBC1. He recently directed GRANTCHESTER for Kudos, Masterpiece PBS and ITV. He also directed 2nd unit on Jack Thorne's drama BEST INTERESTS with AC Chapter One and Fifth Season for BBC1. The project stars Sharon Horgan, Michael Sheen, Alison Oliver and Niamh Moriarty. He’s currently directing 2nd unit on LOCKERBIE with World Productions for the BBC and Netflix.

Prior to this Martin directed HOLBY CITY for BBC1 and BBC Studios, which was Nominated Best Continuing Drama at the BAFTA TV Awards, and Nominated Best Continuing Drama at the Broadcast Awards. ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES, the crime drama hybrid Martin directed for Tiger Aspect and BBC1, won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Entertainment.

Martin was selected for BBC Writersroom Scottish Voices 2022. He is developing feature projects SHOWS with Creative Scotland and DigiCult, and TARANTULA with First Features and 104 Films, plus a number of original drama series.

His short SEAGULLS had its World Premiere in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film. The film has screened at over 50 film festivals to date, picking up Best Short Film wins and nominations in over 20 International Competitions.

His documentary JIMMY, qualified for The Academy Award® Best Short Documentary nomination, was nominated for the BAFTA New Talent Award, and won the Franklyn Marshall Award for Short Film at the CurtDoc International Documentary Festival, Spain.

LIAR was his third commissioned short, made for Collabor8te. The film won the BAFTA New Talent Award for Best Writing.

Martin was selected by the Toronto International Film Festival to participate in their Talent Lab where he was mentored by Danny Boyle and John Collee. 2021 saw Martin selected for the prestigious initiative BBC Elevate.

In Development

ProductionCompanyNotes

TARANTULA

Screen Scotland / First Features / 104 Films / BFI Network

Feature in development
Martin to write and direct

SHOWS

Creative Scotland/Screen Scotland/DigiCult

Feature in development
Martin to write and direct

NUMBERS

Original Series
Martin to write and direct

Television

ProductionCompanyNotes

LOCKERBIE

2024

BBC / Netflix / World Productions

As 2nd Unit Director.
6x60mins.
Producer: Julia Stannard
Exec Prod: Gaynor Holmes. Mona Quereshi, Manda Levin, Max Kisbye, Simon Heath

GRANITE HARBOUR 2

2023

LA Productions / Eccho Rights / BBC Scotland / BBC1

As Lead Director
2 x 60 min
Producer: Donna Molloy
Exec Prod: Gaynor Holmes, Gavin Smith, Colin McKeown

GRANTCHESTER

2022

Kudos / ITV

As Director
1 x 60'
Producer: Tim Whitby
Exec Producer: Emma Kingsman Lloyd, Daisy Coulham, Chloe Tucker.

BEST INTERESTS

2022

AC Chapter One / Endeavor Content / Fifth Season / BBC1

As 2nd Unit Director.
4 x 60mins
Writer: Jack Thorne. Producer: Jenny Frayn. Exec Prod: Sophie Gardner, Toby Bentley, Lucy Richer.
*Nominated Best Limited Series BAFTA TV Awards 2024
*Nominated Best Limited Series RTS Awards 2024

HOLBY CITY

2021

BBC

As Director
2 x 50'
Series Producer: Séan Gleeson
Producer: Poz Watson
Exec Producer: Kate Oates, Deborah Sathe
*Nominated Best Continuing Drama at the Broadcast Awards 2022
*Nominated Best Continuing Drama at the BAFTA Awards 2022

ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES

2017

Tiger Aspect/BBC1

As Director
6 x 45' Episodes including Season Finale. Starring Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Stephen Billington & Sarah Baxendale.
*Winner Best Entertainment BAFTA Scotland Awards 2018

Short Films

ProductionCompanyNotes

NAMES

2019

Filming Scotland / Independents

As Director
*Winner Gold Award, The Drum Roses Awards
*Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival

SEAGULLS

2014

Creative Scotland/Scottish Shorts/Screen Films

As Writer/Director
*Winner of the Golden Reel Award for Best Short Children's Film - Tiburon International Film Festival, USA
*Winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award of the State of California - Borrego Springs International Film Festival, USA
*Nominated for the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film - Berlin International Film Festival
*Nominated Best Short Film - Hamburg International Short Film Festival
*Nominated Best Short Film - Edinburgh International Film Festival
*Nominated Best International Short Film - Bermuda International Film Festival
*Nominated Best International Short Film - Internationale Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg, Germany
*Nominated Best International Short Film - IndieCork International Film Festival
*Nominated Best British Short Film - Leeds International Film Festival
*Nominated Best International Short Film - Almeria En Corto International Film Festival, Spain
*Nominated Best Scottish Short Film - Glasgow Film Festival
*Nominated Best International Short Film - RiverRun International Film Festival, USA

LIAR

2013

Rankin Film/Collabor8te/Blue Iris Films

As Director
*Winner BAFTA New Talent Award 'Best Writing'
*Nominated Best International Short, IndieCork International Film Festival, Ireland
*Nominated Best International Short, Bilbao International Short Film Festival
*Nominated Best Scottish Short, Glasgow Short Film Festival

TRACKS

2006

Creative Scotland/UK Film Council/DigiCult/La Belle Allee

As Writer/Director
*Winner BAFTA Scotland Award Best Short Film
*TCM Turner Classic Shorts Competition - Highly Commended
*Los Angeles International Short Film Festival - Nominated Best Foreign Film
*Sau Paulo International Film Festival - Nominated Best International Short Film
*Raindance Film Festival - Nominated Best UK Short
*Leeds International Film Festival - Nominated Best UK Short Film
*Tirana International Film Festival - Nominated Best International Short Film

ACCIDENTS

2006

Scottish Screen/Sugartree Productions

As Writer/Director
*Appledore International Film Festival - Winner Best Short Film
*Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Germany - Nominated Best International Short
*Cork International Film Festival - Nominated Best International Short
*Tiburon International Film Festival, USA - Nominated Best International Short
*Jim Poole Short Film Award, Scotland - Nominated Best Scottish Short
*Edinburgh International Film Festival - Nominated Best British Short

Documentaries

ProductionCompanyNotes

JIMMY

2011

BBC Scotland/Creative Scotland/Scottish Documentary Institute

As Director/Cinematographer
*Qualified for the Academy Award® Best Short Documentary Nomination
*Winner of the Franklyn Marshall Award for Short Film at Curt.Doc International Documentary Festival, Spain.
*Nominated BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award - Best Director Of Photography
*Winner Second Prize ICCL Human Rights Film Awards, Dublin
*Nominated for The Bill Douglas Award for Best International Short film - Glasgow Short Film Festival
*Nominated for Best Short Film in the Scottish Short Film Awards - Glasgow Short Film Festival
*Nominated for Best International Short Film - Indianapolis International Film Festival

MY CITY EDINBURGH

2005

Channel 4/Sugartree Productions

Director, 4 Episodes. Featuring Shirley Manson, John Bellany & Alex Arthur.