Declan Lawn on Blue Lights, Leaving Journalism & Becoming a BAFTA-Winning Screenwriter

Wasted Creatives · Oct 1, 2026 · 1h 9m

In this episode of Wasted Creatives, Michael Crilly sits down with Declan Lawn, the journalist-turned-screenwriter behind The Salisbury Poisonings, Rogue Agent and BBC’s Blue Lights, to talk about creativity, career change, rejection and what happens when you finally take the risk you’ve been thinking about for years.

Declan reflects on growing up in Northern Ireland, becoming fascinated with journalism from a young age, and building a career across programmes including Spotlight and Panorama. But in his 30s, a handful of seemingly small conversations began to change the direction of his life…