Our Story
Mike & Becky Peacock have been telling stories for a long time.
Between us, we have over 40 years experience in script-writing, storytelling, directing & producing for theatre and film.
For many years we ran our own theatre company (Rhema Theatre Company) which performed to hundreds of thousands of people all around the UK -
in such diverse settings as schools, churches, prisons, tents and even theatres.
We’ve worked on numerous community projects with a diverse range of people - both in the UK and as far afield as Slovenia, Uganda, Bosnia & Iraq.
Since the pandemic, our theatre company closed down and we’ve turned our attention to telling stories through different media.
In 2020 Top & Tail Productions was born.
Our goal is to tell stories of transformation and hope; stories that inspire; stories that are filled with colour and life and fun!
Mike Peacock
Born and bred in Manchester Mike trained at the Arden School of Theatre. In 2001 he co-founded Rhema Theatre Company where he wrote and directed over 40 works of theatre. Mike also wrote, directed and played the title character in his radio podcast series ‘The Paul Podcasts’. When directing his human trafficking play ‘The It’s Not Fair’ (National Tour and Buxton Fringe Festival), the subject became so important that he wrote and directed two human trafficking short films ‘Alicija’ and ‘Into The Dark’.
Mike’s first short ‘The Date’ was commended by the Buxton Film Festival, nominated for Best of British and Best Short Film awards as UKCFF, and FutureWorks School of Film, Television & Media highlighted it as an example of how to make a great low-budget short.
Mike tries to add in moments of light even when dealing with the darkest of subjects…
“A lesson in storytelling and acting that can scarcely be bettered. There are small moments which are laugh out loud funny, touches of pathos and joy which take the viewer on a journey…” Buxton FF Review ‘The Date’
His short film ‘Alicija’ had 16 different locations and was shot over two weekends. As a theatre director and workshop leader, Mike has worked as far afield as Bosnia, Uganda, Slovenia and Iraq.
As a writer Mike won the M6 theatre competition ‘Love in the time of Corona' for his play ‘When we started Singing’ (now filmed by M6 theatre company winning ‘Fantastic For Family Award 2021’). Mike’s scripts have been performed on various different local radio stations and a number of television channels both in the UK and abroad. They have also been used in Uganda, Kenya & Tanzania by the charity Act4Africa.
As an author titles include ‘Boris the Robot’, two children’s novels ‘Angel’s Delight’ and its sequel ‘Angel’s Surprise’ and his children’s picture book ‘The Party In Heaven’ -currently being published by Malcolm Down Publishing.
Mike created the educational short film series ‘Tales From the Miracle Book’ where he is found wearing many different hats (quite literally) as a writer/director/actor. Mike was finalist in BBC CBeebies ‘Get Squiggling’ competition and is currently writing a screenplay for a TV series entitled ‘Blues For Bobby Ray’.
He plans to direct his first feature film ‘Silver Screen Dreams’ in 2023...
In his spare time Mike likes to juggle, play the guitar and teach Ju-Jitsu - although not always at the same time.
For more information visit:
https://www.mikepeacock.net/
Rebecca Peacock
For more than twenty years, Rebecca has been telling stories. As an actor, in books, audio-dramas and in short-film, Rebecca has always worked to create worlds that fully-immerse their audience - that delight, surprise and pack an emotional punch. Through the medium of film, Rebecca has felt able to fully realise her creative vision, creating atmospheres that combine an upbeat, lightness of touch with their moments of deep drama.
Rebecca grew up in a family of musicians and puts her love for creating heightened filmic atmospheres down, in part, to the experimental freedom that was born of her years in creative environments as a child. As a member of both the National Youth Music Theatre and the Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Rebecca performed in the most prestigious venues across the UK. She continues to bring her talent as a multi-instrumentalist and composer to sound design in her theatre and film work today.
In her early career, Rebecca trained and worked as an actor/musician performing in some of the most prestigious venues across the UK. In 2001, she went on to co-found and lead a theatre company that reached an audience of more than two million people over its twenty years performing. It was here that Rebecca honed her skills for the visual, taking a lead on costume and set design, transferring this love for the quirky, colourful and theatrical to the art direction within films.
Rebecca’s first short film, ‘The Date’ - written and directed by her husband Mike Peacock - was commended by the Buxton Film Festival, nominated for Best of British and Best Short Film awards as UKCFF, and highlighted by FutureWorks School of Film, Television & Media as an example of how to make a great low-budget short.
Rebecca went on to produce and art-direct ‘Alicija’ and ‘Into The Dark’ - a pair of coming of age dramas on the subject of human trafficking, with ‘Alicija’ being selected for the Short Of The Month Film Festival, the Buxton Film Festival, the Kino Film Festival and award-nominated at The Modcom London Film Festival.
During lockdown, Rebecca put a home green screen to extensive use in the production of fifty-four extra-short one-man dramas telling stories for use in primary RE & PSHE education; producing, art-directing, sound designing and editing the entire series.
Rebecca’s favourite films and theatre both make her laugh and take her on a journey. She loves people and wants people to be able to flourish. She hopes she can use her creativity to somehow make the world a better place and touch those broken parts of each of our lives with hope and a little bit of fun!