Jason
was born on Monday 8th February 1971 a baby brother for Rebecca, and later as a
big brother for
Adam, making the family complete.
Each of the three children was very different in personality but as they grew up they formed a very strong relationship valuing each others friendship, advice and support. Jay, as he soon became known, was quite a sombre and serious child in his very early years, but this trait quickly disappeared as he grew older and by the age of five he was entertaining family and friends at every gathering with his extensive repertoire of jokes and anecdotes. He was a born clown and loved to make others laugh.
He developed an addictive love of books and became an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction from a very early age. By the time he was seven he had read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books amongst many others. Some of his scribbles in exercise books still amuse us today.
He was soon reading in assemblies and acting in plays at his first school and this was the start of his love of the written and spoken word.
At the age of seven he achieved his first taste of TV stardom by winning a competition to appear on the children’s Saturday morning show ‘Tiswas’ hosted by Chris Tarrant.
In middle school his reading and
writing skills developed even further and again he was prominent in School
Assemblies and Plays. A local speech and drama teacher actively encouraged him
in all his talents and when he entered the Nuneaton Festival of Arts he happily
and energetically stood on a stage in front of large audiences and delivered his
contributions to much acclaim. He was very proud of the cups and certificates he
was awarded.
Jay had very little, if any, interest in anything practical. He amused everyone with his announcement one day in his later years at Higham Lane School that for his woodwork project he intended to make a coffee table. He asked his Father for a piece of 8’ x 4’ plywood as the table was going to be ‘banana shaped’. Another long standing family joke concerns a work bench made for him by his Dad when he was very small which remains in excellent condition to this day – unused. He loved the constant company of his many friends but he always sought out his books whenever he had a spare moment.
The family had a dog called Topsy which Jay always considered to be his especially and he loved to take her for long walks each day. They formed a beautiful friendship and the animal adored him.
Jay was also a very keen Boy Scout and horrified his parents with some of his exploits and tales of some of the things he cooked and ate. Through his enthusiasm and energy he became the youngest Warwickshire recipient of the Queen’s Scout Award at the age of thirteen. Around this time he also gained the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. His sense of adventure and daring never left him and he worried his parents on many occasions with his exploits. One of these involved him and his friend John Brookes when they decide to camp out in the wilds of Wales in a violent storm for a week with little or no resources and no means of support. Happily they survived intact. Because of his attitude to life in general and his willingness to try ‘anything once’ Jay was loved by all who knew him. Even at a very early age he was known as the perfect gentleman because of his manners and approach to others.
He wasn’t a keen sportsman although he enjoyed a game of tennis and badminton as well as swimming and canoeing. But he always preferred scribbling down ideas for plays and then putting them into action with a movie camera, making films with his friends.
At school he continued to pursue his love of the Arts and history for which he often won end-of-year prizes. He won the Micheal Orr prize for English which included a private aeroplane trip to Jersey for the day, all expense paid. His reaction when questioned later was that the plane was a ‘bit cramped’.
At Sixth Form College he appeared the musical ‘Grease’ and again won more prizes for English. Also at this time he joined the Belgrade Youth Theatre in Coventry and took a major role in the play ‘The Good Woman of Szechwan’.
After completing his ‘A’ Levels he was
awarded a scholarship by the English Speaking Union to study at the Blake School
in Minneapolis, USA where he was housed with an American family who adored and
spoiled him in every way possible. Again he won numerous prizes for his
abilities in speech and drama and even ran classes for the pupils there. After
his first year was finished he spent a month travelling with little or no
resources but he did see real American life for a while. On his return he wrote
a short essay of his experiences which was published in the ESU magazine and for
which he was awarded a prize.
In 1990 he entered Trinity College Cambridge to read English.
He made many new friends, enjoyed a rich social life, and involved himself fully in numerous college activities including the Amateur Dramatic Club and Footlights Dramatic Society and won the Powel Medal for Poetry. He adapted the work of Dylan Thomas into a play ‘Reminiscences of Childhood’, which he produced and directed with Adrian Metcalfe and which received rave reviews and played at the Edinburgh Festival and nationwide.
In 1995 he was awarded the Vivian Ellis certificate of Merit for an excerpt from a musical (‘Steal’ – The Show) which he wrote with James Elias and which was performed at the Barbican. Judges included Tim Rice, Lionel Bart, Vivian Ellis, Elaine Paige and Don Black.
Following these successes he decided that writing was to be his career beginning with satirical sketches for ‘Week Ending’ on Radio 4. To supplement his income he read and reviewed other writers’ works and later was asked to provide workshops for other scriptwriters. He soon had many friends and contacts in the television industry and worked many long hours reviewing books and scripts. This work together with his own personal writings made huge demands on his time, so he took a full-time job with ‘World Productions’.
In 2002 he moved to ‘La Plante Productions’ working on successful TV shows such as ‘Prime Suspect’, ‘Trial and Retribution’ and ‘The Commander’. Latterly he became less involved in television work to become more directly concerned with fictional writing with Lynda La Plante.
Jason has written three novels, a play, two film scripts and many poems and magazine articles.
Jason was a charming, handsome, gentle and caring young man, highly intelligent and quick witted with a fertile imagination which manifested itself in his ability to find humour in almost every situation. He was a naturally gifted storyteller and a craftsman – able to apply the right words for every occasion.
He leaves a legacy of many happy memories and pride in being able to share his life.
(biography by Jason's parents: Bob and Kate McCreight)
