Early work In 1995, Shadforth directed
The Friends Tale, a 10-minute experimental
docudrama for
Channel 4's
Battered Britain series. Around the same time she directed
The Seven Year Glitch, an experimental film documenting the
Warp Records seven-year anniversary tour, screened at
onedotzero in
London, United Kingdom and
Sónar in
Barcelona, Spain.
Music videos In 1996, Shadforth directed a music video for the track "Hush" by
Kurtis Mantronik. The video was filmed in
Brooklyn in
New York City and
Sheffield. It features cameos by
Todd Terry,
Róisín Murphy, Jason Buckle from the band
Relaxed Muscle and DJ Winston Hazel amongst others. In 1997, Shadforth's music video for Sheffield band
All Seeing I's single "Beat Goes On" won for Best Dance Video at the 1998 Muzik Video Awards and for Best New Director and Best Editing at the 1999 CAD Awards. In 1999, she directed a video for
Garbage’s "
Special" featuring the band dog fighting in futuristic aircraft in the skies above a barren desert planet. The video was awarded Visionary Video at the
VH1/
Vogue Fashion Awards. In 2001, Shadforth made the
Kylie Minogue video "
Can't Get You Out of My Head". In 2005 she directed the award-winning promo film for "
The Importance of Being Idle", the acclaimed second single from the 2005
Oasis album ''
Don't Believe the Truth''. A pastiche of 1960s
kitchen sink drama films, it starred
Rhys Ifans. In 2016 she directed videos for the single "Lights" by
Hurts, and "Old Skool" by
Metronomy, featuring
Sharon Horgan, which were nominated for six awards collectively at the UKMVA's. "Lights" by Hurts also won Dawn a special achievement award at the 2015 1:4 Awards.
Film and television In 2017 Shadforth directed
The Big Day, a short film written by Kellie Smith produced as part of the
BFI I-Write scheme by Michelle Eastwood. The film went on to win the
British Independent Film Award (BIFA) for Best British Short Film at the 2018
British Independent Film Awards. She followed this with acclaimed work on long-form TV drama, beginning with
Trust in 2017, for which she was nominated for Breakthrough Talent at the 2018
BAFTA Awards. In 2018 she directed an episode of the adaptation of
Phillip Pullman's epic saga
His Dark Materials. In 2019, Shadforth directed the mini-series
Adult Material, written by playwright
Lucy Kirkwood, a drama examining themes of power and consent following the life of a working mother within the UK adult entertainment industry, for Channel 4 and Netflix. The show starred
Hayley Squires and featuring among others
Rupert Everett,
Sienna Kelly,
Kerry Godliman and
Joe Dempsie. It garnered rave reviews and was nominated for five
BAFTA awards in 2021 including Best Miniseries. Squires won an
International Emmy for her performance in the show. Shadforth followed this with
Mood, written by
Nicôle Lecky for
BBC Worldwide and
AMC in 2021, shot in
East London during the pandemic. The show combines fantasy music sequences with comedy drama and was critically well received. In 2022 directed all episodes of a Christmas special of
I Hate Suzie, the show created by
Billie Piper and
Lucy Prebble and produced by Badwolf for
Sky Atlantic == Selected director videography ==