In an interview, Thompson said "I took a sudden left turn and became a scriptwriter.” In 2005, he was made Pearson writer in residence at the
Bush Theatre where his next play
Whipping It Up was also performed.
Roaring Trade was performed by
Paines Plough at the
Soho Theatre. His most recent play
No Naughty Bits was performed at
Hampstead Theatre in September 2011. His first credit for television came on the medical soap
Doctors in 2005. Since then, he has contributed scripts for several popular shows, including
Silk,
Upstairs Downstairs,
Doctor Who, and the first three series of
Sherlock (the latter two both in collaboration with
Steven Moffat). In 2016, he created the period drama series
Jericho, which re-imagines the building of the
Ribblehead Viaduct. In April 2016,
ITV confirmed that a second series of
Jericho was not going to be commissioned. On 3 October 2018, it was announced that Thompson would be teaming with
Frank Spotnitz to develop a drama about
Leonardo da Vinci. On 17 February 2019, it was revealed that Thompson was developing an adaptation of
Runestaff for
BBC. On 16 August 2019, the BBC announced they would broadcast Thompson's adaptation of the popular Liebermann novels by
Frank Tallis,
Vienna Blood. On 6 July 2020, Endor Productions and MR Film announced that a second series had been jointly recommissioned by ORF, ZDF, BBC and PBS. On 22 February 2022, a third series was commissioned, and then later a fourth and final series. In 2025, BBC One broadcast Thompson's adaptation of the
Inspector Lynley series by
Elizabeth George. starring
Leo Suter. == Bibliography ==