Craig Viveiros is a British-Portuguese film and television director, screenwriter, producer and visual artist. His work includes the BBC dramas And Then There Were None, Rillington Place and The War of the Worlds, the BBC America series The Watch, the ITV thriller Angela Black and the ITV medical drama Breathtaking.
His feature-film debut, Ghosted, which he wrote, directed and produced, had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2011. It was subsequently selected for the main competition at the Torino Film Festival, where Martin Compston won Best Actor for his performance in the film.
Alongside his film and television career, Viveiros has also worked in theatre, performance and installation art through the multidisciplinary project 5iveFs.
Career
Early career and film Viveiros began his career working in camera and lighting departments before moving into directing short films and commercials.
He wrote, produced and directed his feature-film debut, the prison drama Ghosted (2011), starring John Lynch, Martin Compston, David Schofield, Craig Parkinson and Art Malik. The film had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and later competed at the Torino Film Festival, where Compston received the festival's Best Actor award.
Viveiros subsequently directed the crime thriller The Liability (2012), starring Tim Roth, Jack O'Connell, Peter Mullan and Talulah Riley. The film was selected for the Torino 30 international feature competition at the 2012 Torino Film Festival.
Television In 2015, Viveiros directed all three episodes of the BBC One adaptation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, starring Charles Dance, Sam Neill, Aidan Turner, Toby Stephens, Miranda Richardson, Anna Maxwell Martin and Maeve Dermody.
The three-part adaptation was a ratings success for BBC One. Its opening episode attracted approximately six million viewers on Boxing Day in the UK.
The production also received positive critical attention for its dark and cinematic treatment of Christie's novel. The Times described it as "the best Christie adaptation yet made for television". The Irish Independent singled out Viveiros's "assured and stylish direction" and compared the production's quality to that of a three-hour cinema film. RogerEbert.com similarly praised Viveiros's "assured direction", while The Independent described the adaptation as "smart" and "sharp", its conclusion as "riveting", and the production as "hugely atmospheric".
For his work on the series, Viveiros was nominated for Director - Drama at the 2016 Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards.
Viveiros subsequently directed all three episodes of the BBC One drama Rillington Place (2016), based on the crimes of John Christie and starring Tim Roth, Samantha Morton, Nico Mirallegro and Jodie Comer.
The production received two nominations at the 2017 British Academy Television Craft Awards. Cinematographer James Friend won Photography & Lighting: Fiction, while Pat Campbell was nominated for Production Design. Friend's cinematography on Rillington Place also received a British Society of Cinematographers nomination, and the series was nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Miniseries.
In 2017, Viveiros worked again with Tim Roth, directing the Tin Star episode "Fortunate Boy".
He later directed all three episodes of the BBC's adaptation of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, starring Rafe Spall, Eleanor Tomlinson, Rupert Graves and Robert Carlyle. Viveiros also served as an executive producer on the production.
Viveiros subsequently worked as a director and executive producer on BBC America's The Watch, a television series inspired by characters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.
In 2021, he directed all six episodes of the ITV and Spectrum Originals psychological thriller Angela Black, starring Joanne Froggatt, Michiel Huisman and Samuel Adewunmi. He also served as an executive producer on the series.
Breathtaking In 2024, Viveiros directed all three episodes of Breathtaking, an ITV medical drama based on physician Rachel Clarke's memoir about the experiences of NHS staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The series was written by Clarke, Jed Mercurio and Prasanna Puwanarajah and starred Joanne Froggatt as hospital consultant Abbey Henderson.
Viveiros developed an immersive, observational approach to the production. Scenes were frequently staged in extended moving-camera sequences, with parts of the hospital environment operating continuously around the actors. Viveiros described his intention as creating a fluid, real-time approach in which the camera could move throughout a 360-degree environment rather than relying on conventional marks and coverage.
The series received strong critical reviews. The Standard described it as "compulsory viewing". The Independent specifically praised Viveiros's direction, writing that his use of long moving-camera sequences lifted the drama above familiar medical-drama conventions and immersed viewers in the hospital environment. The newspaper later included Breathtaking among its best television programmes of 2024.
In 2025, Breathtaking was nominated in the Limited Series and Single Drama category at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards. Production designer Ashleigh Jeffers was also nominated for Production Design at the 2025 British Academy Television Craft Awards.
Theatre, performance and installation art Alongside his film and television work, Viveiros founded 5iveFs, a collaborative project working across film, theatre, music, performance and visual art.
In March 2024, Viveiros directed a new production of Lulu Raczka's play Nothing at Galeria Zé dos Bois in Lisbon. Presented by 5iveFs, the production featured Helena Caldeira, Samuel Adewunmi, Edgar Morais, David J. Amado, Paul Tracey, Chelsea Sheets and Sofi Pashkual, with music by British electronic musician Batu.
Later in 2024, Viveiros created AXIS, an immersive film and performance installation presented through 5iveFs at Mirari in Lisbon. The work combined filmed performance, projection, sculpture and electronic music, and included performances by Richard Dormer, Lara Rossi, Helena Caldeira and Edgar Morais, with a soundscape by Al Wootton.
Selected filmography Year Title Medium Role 2011 Ghosted Film Writer, director and producer 2012 The Liability Film Director 2013 Endeavour Television Director, episode "Rocket" 2014-2015 Silent Witness Television Director, four episodes 2015 X Company Television Director, two episodes 2015 And Then There Were None Television miniseries Director, three episodes 2016 Rillington Place Television miniseries Director, three episodes 2017 Tin Star Television Director, episode "Fortunate Boy" 2019 The War of the Worlds Television miniseries Director and executive producer, three episodes 2021 The Watch Television Director and executive producer 2021 Angela Black Television Director and executive producer, six episodes 2024 Breathtaking Television miniseries Director, three episodes
Theatre and installation Year Title Type Role 2024 Nothing Theatre Director - 5iveFs / Galeria Zé dos Bois, Lisbon 2024 AXIS Film/performance installation Creator, writer, director and producer
References