Will Trotter

Trotter was born in Manchester, where he attended drama school. He subsequently played in a punk bank that supported the Buzzcocks on tour. He wrote to numerous television producers but received no reply. Due to his working class background, Trotter feared he did not stand out amongst Oxbridge graduates and decided to instead write to the head of regional news in Birmingham. He was hired after spending a week ­shadowing the production team on BBC Midlands Today.^[1] He has recalled falling in love with a trainee vision mixer, Alex, whilst directing the show; he became distracted and forgot to push a button which switched the conclusion of national news to regional output, meaning viewers in the Midlands accidentally watched BBC South East Today.^[1]

After switching from regional news to drama and attaining various production credits, Trotter began working on the BBC daytime soap opera Doctors from its inception. He initially worked in the role of associate producer, before stepping up to a producer and eventually executive producer.^[2] He stayed in his position as executive producer on Doctors until 2015. During his tenure on the soap, he was responsible for castings including Jimmi Clay (Adrian Lewis Morgan), Daniel Granger (Matthew Chambers), Karen Hollins (Jan Pearson), Zara Carmichael (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) and Mrs Tembe (Lorna Laidlaw), amongst others. He also oversaw storylines including the rape of character Vivien March (Anita Carey), which received numerous accolades at the British Soap Awards,^[3][4] as well as Ruth Pearce's (Selina Chilton) mental breakdown, which garnered acclaim from critics and mental health professionals.^[5]

Whilst working on Doctors, Trotter executive produced The Afternoon Play and Land Girls for BBC's daytime programming. In 2013, he began working on Father Brown, a period detective series that aired after episodes of Doctors.^[6] He has also executive produced for WPC 56, The Coroner, Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators and Sister Boniface Mysteries, the latter of which serves as a spin-off series to Father Brown.^[7][8] In 2025, alongside Oliver Kent, the former Head of Continuing Drama at BBC Studios, he co-founded Mill Bay Media, a scripted media label.^[9] Upon its inception, they announced plans to adapt broadcaster Jeremy Vine's novel Murder on Line One into a series, as well as plans for a "cosy crime" series.^[9] This was later revealed to be The Hairdresser Mysteries, which premiered in 2026.^[10] Funding for the series came from Doctors, which was cancelled in 2023; at the time of its cancellation, the BBC pledged to reinvest the funding into new drama in the Midlands.^[11]