The film adaptation of the hit play The Lady in the Van is out now in the UK. Alan Bennett has been one of our leading dramatists since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His television series Talking Heads has become a modern-day classic, as have many of his works for the stage.
At the National Theatre, London, The History Boys won numerous awards including Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards for Best Play, an Olivier for the Best New Play and the South Bank Award. His play The History Boys was the National Theatre's most successful production ever.
His collection of prose
Writing Home was a number one bestseller.
Untold Stories won the PEN/Ackerley Prize for autobiography, 2006. Recent works of fiction are
The Uncommon Reader and
Smut: Two Unseemly Stories.