Ruth Carney: the British director to watch as her feature debut Amazing Grace heads to UK cinemas

LONDON - EntSun -- Ruth Carney, the director behind BBC One's Shetland and a string of Britain's best-loved dramas, makes her feature debut this autumn with Amazing Grace, in UK cinemas from 6 November 2026.

Starring Hannah Walters and Daniel P. Lewis, Amazing Grace deals with suicide and the importance of reaching out.

Walters plays a helpline volunteer in a role Lewis wrote specifically for her. Lewis also produced the film and plays the lead.

Shot in Liverpool in just eleven days, the film has already been nominated for Best Feature at the Birmingham International Film Festival 2026.

The release caps a remarkable year for Carney. She was nominated for Best Director at the RTS Awards 2026 for series 10 of Shetland and is lead director on series 11, including episodes 1 to 3 and 6, expected on BBC One later this year.

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Two decades behind the camera

Carney's route to directing did not run through the usual channels.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent and raised in Talke Pits, on the edge of a council estate, she was the first in her circle to go to university, where she directed her first production. An MA in theatre directing took her to Moscow, where she trained under a director who had himself been taught by Stanislavski.

She went on to work as associate director to Matthew Warchus on The Lord of the Rings at Drury Lane, Ghost: The Musical and the Olivier-winning Our House. Moving into television through the BBC Directors Scheme, she directed nineteen episodes of Doctors and thirteen of Emmerdale before credits on Casualty, Call the Midwife, Death in Paradise, Waterloo Road, Brassic, Tell Me Everything and Shetland. She also directs stunt sequences, from a seven-camera car chase for Brassic to underwater tank work for Shetland.

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Of Amazing Grace, she added: "Eleven days, not many takes. It kept everything fresh. Directing this gave me a freedom I hadn't felt before. Now I want to make more films."

Carney is also an outspoken voice on class in the industry and founder of Carney Academy, which offers affordable access to drama. "When the industry talks about diversity, class still gets left out," she said.

Amazing Grace is in UK cinemas from 6 November 2026. Worldwide sales are handled by Screenbound International Pictures.

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