Robert Thorogood is an English author and screenwriter, best known for creating the BBC 1 murder mystery series Death in Paradise. He was born in Colchester, The United Kingdom, and completed his schooling at Uppingham School in Rutland. Later, he pursued History at Downing College, Cambridge, where he became an active member of the university's student comedy troupe Footlights in 1993. In 1994, Robert was elected as the President of Footlights, which was a significant achievement for him.
After completing his graduation, Robert set up his own theatre company, which toured in schools and small theatres. The highlight of his theatre company was the production of Molière's The Miser, in which he acted alongside Robert Webb, David Mitchell, and Olivia Colman, while also directing the drama. Robert wrote for many years, selling scripts to the BBC, ITV, and independent film companies. However, before 2011, only one of his scripts was broadcast, a Radio 4 afternoon play called From Abstraction, based on the life of Paul Wolfskehl.
In 2008, Robert entered the inaugural Red Planet Prize and was selected as a finalist, where he was able to pitch his 'Copper in the Caribbean' idea to Tony Jordan. By 2011, when the show was finally broadcast, Robert had become a symbol of perseverance and determination, with his first TV broadcast credit at the age of 39. In January 2014, Robert signed a deal with MIRA Harlequin to write three Richard Poole Murder Mystery novels, with the first one published in hardback in January 2015. Robert is also the author of The Marlow Murder Club, a new murder mystery series set in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. He can be found on Twitter at @robthor.