Michael Hirst

Michael Hirst (born 21 September 1952) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for films Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and series The Tudors (2007–10) and Vikings (2013–20). Hirst owns Green Pavilion Entertainment, a production company he launched in December 2017.

Early life Hirst was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire and grew up in Ilkley. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and attended the London School of Economics. He received a First Class Joint-Honours Degree in English and American Literature from the University of Nottingham and studied Henry James' writings at Trinity College, Oxford.

Hirst was originally going to be an academic, but decided to become a screenwriter after Nicolas Roeg read one of his short stories and asked Hirst to write screenplays for him.

Hirst was developing a feature film about Mary Queen of Scots with Working Title Films, to star Saoirse Ronan. The film was further developed without Hirst's involvement and released in 2018, written by Beau Willimon and directed by Josie Rourke.

Premiering in 2013, Hirst created Vikings, the History Channel's first foray into serialised drama. It stars Gabriel Byrne, Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, Katheryn Winnick, Jessalyn Gilsig, and Gustaf Skarsgård.

In 2019, Hirst began working with writer Jeb Stuart on the sequel to Vikings called Vikings: Valhalla which is set approximately 100 years after the end of Vikings which was released on Netflix in 2022.

In 2021, Billy the Kid was bought by Epix; Hirst wrote and was executive producer for the series. It premiered in 2022.

Personal life His daughters Maude Hirst and Georgia Hirst are both actors. They have made appearances on his shows, the former on The Tudors and both on Vikings.

Filmography Films + Year TitleNotes1988 The Deceivers 1990 Fools of Fortune 1991 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Meeting Venus 1994 Uncovered 1998 Elizabeth 2007 Elizabeth: The Golden AgeAlso executive producer

Television + Year Title WriterExecutive Producer Creator Notes 2002 The Young Casanova Television film 2005 Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II 2007–2010 The Tudors Created and wrote all 38 episodesExecutive produced 32 episodes 2011 Camelot Created and executive produced all 10 episodesWrote story for episode "Homecoming" 2013–2020 Vikings Wrote and executive produced all 89 episodes 2022–2024 Vikings: Valhalla 2022–2025 Billy the Kid TBD Bloodaxe Filming