John Hay is a two-time EMMY, BAFTA and Berlin Bear Award-winning film and television director.
John began his career at the BBC where early work included AUTOGEDDON, a monologue performed by Jeremy Irons which won the Grand Prix at the Shanghai TV Festival, and CAUSE OF DEATH, which won the Golden Gate at San Francisco. There he also directed STIG OF THE DUMP which won both an EMMY and a BAFTA.
His feature debut, THE STEAL for Warner Bros., starred Alfred Molina, Helen Slater, Stephen Fry and Jack Dee. John subsequently wrote and directed THERE’S ONLY ONE JIMMY GRIMBLE for Pathé, featuring Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone and Gina McKee. The film became a global festival favourite, winning the Berlin Bear alongside ten additional international awards including the Golden Gryphon at Giffoni, the Grand Prix at the European Film Festival, Best Feature at BUFF, Ale Kino, KinderFilm, Kyoto and Isfahan.
John also directed THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE for Lakeshore and co-wrote THE ADMIRAL for Fox International (which went on to gross $40 million worldwide) then produced the British segment of Al Pacino’s LOOKING FOR RICHARD for Fox Searchlight. With David Logan, he co-wrote and directed LOST CHRISTMAS for BBC One – starring Eddie Izzard, Jason Flemyng and Geoffrey Palmer – which won him his second EMMY and received a theatrical release via Hyde Park International.
John directed the feature film, TO OLIVIA for Sky Cinema starring Hugh Bonneville, Keeley Hawes and Sam Heughan. Set in 1962, it tells the story of how Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal faced the shattering loss of their daughter Olivia. It was released theatrically in the US and around the world.
John’s recent documentary feature film WILLEM & FRIEDA starring Stephen Fry, was a passion project he chose to direct that told the extraordinary true story of two queer resistance heroes who fought the Nazis in WW2 in occupied Amsterdam. The film premiered at BFI Flare and went on to win fifteen international awards during its theatrical run.
Alongside this, John produced the feature documentary HUMAN TIDE, which had its world premiere at the Red Sea Film Festival. He also executive produced the Broadcast Award-nominated documentary, MY WIFE, MY ABUSER which spent two weeks at No. 1 on Netflix Series in 2024 and THE MURDER OF LOUISE KAM, which reached No. 3 on Netflix Films and remained there for a fortnight in 2025.
John has just directed CAPTURE YOU DEAD, a 90-minute film episode for Series 6 of ITV’s GRACE and is attached to direct a large-scale live action version of CAPTAIN PUGWASH which he has just finished writing.