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Matthew Wingett (born April 24 1968 in Portsmouth, Hampshire), is an English screenwriter, journalist, novelist, songwriter and hypnotist, and is the brother of English actor Mark Wingett. His most well known work for television are episodes of the ITV1 police drama The Bill.

Career[]

Matthew wanted to be a writer from his youth and joined a publishing company in 1986, where he learned about the trade of writing and book production. His writing developed over the next 6 years until in 1991 he was hired to write episodes of The Bill for ITV1. Matthew's brother, Mark Wingett, played Jim Carver in the show. Matthew was scrupulous about maintaining separation from his brother. His first script was submitted to the Script Unit under the name of Matthew Brothers to deflect charges of nepotism. This first script, Thicker Than Water also did not use Jim Carver. It contained a theme recurring in Wingett's works: the conflict between local loyalties and a greater good. Wingett was 23 years old when his first episode was aired and was the youngest writer at The Bill.

Matthew created the character DC John Boulton to play as a foil against Jim Carver in the episode Faith In The System. He returned as a full cast member in 1995 in the episode Saved, having been promoted to DS. This episode was also written by Matthew Wingett.

In 1997, Matthew received a blow to the head in a kickboxing accident and underwent emergency brain surgery at Southampton Neurological Unit to relieve pressure on the brain caused by a subdural haematoma. After this period, he lost his creative drive in writing.

In April 2008, Matthew approached hypnotist Paul McKenna to see if he could help him with his creativity. After one 40 minute session, Matthew found that he was able to write creatively again. Matthew is now a hypnotist, Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and is working on a novel and personal development guides with various hypnotists.

Selected filmography[]

External links[]

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