Harper began his career making short films. He wrote and directed Cubs in 2006 about urban fox hunting which was nominated for a BAFTA in the Best Short Film category and won a BIFA.[4]
In 2014, Harper re-teamed with Jack Thorne, the writer of The Scouting Book for Boys, to make War Book, which premiered at the London Film Festival and had its international premiere as the opening film of the International Festival of Film Rotterdam.[6] The film received critical acclaim[7] with The List calling it a "powerful, provocative and essential piece of modern British cinema".[8] Harper was also a producer on the film.[9]
He directed the 2016 BBC TV mini-series War & Peace, starring Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton for BBC1 and The Weinstein Company.[10] The series topped ratings and won rave reviews.[11] The series was nominated for 6 BAFTAs (including Best Drama Series) and won for Best Production Design.[12]
Jessie Buckley, Tom Harper, and Nicole Taylor interviewed about Wild Rose in 2018
Harper next directed the pilot episode of The Son for AMC based on Phillip Meyer's acclaimed novel.[13]Pierce Brosnan played the lead, replacing Sam Neill (with whom Harper previously worked on Peaky Blinders) who was forced to pull out for "personal reasons."[14] The series was picked up for a second season in May 2017.[13]
Wild Rose starring Jessie Buckley (with whom Harper had worked previously on War and Peace) and Julie Walters, and written by Nicole Taylor, was filmed in Glasgow, Scotland, and Nashville, USA, in the summer of 2017. Owen Gleiberman described it in Variety as "a happy-sad drama of starstruck fever that lifts you up and sweeps you along, touching you down in a puddle of well-earned tears."[16]
Harper directed a short film to launch The Royal Albert Hall's 150th anniversary year. Entitled Your Room Will Be Ready, the film was shot in 2020 during the Covid pandemic and is a tribute to live music. Narrated by Mick Jagger[19] it features more than 40 archive event clips including never-before-seen and rare material dating back to 1930s.
An untitled Peaky Blinders film, based on the TV series, is in development and is being directed by Harper in January 2021. Following the announcement of the last series of Peaky Blinders, Knight clarified that it had been decided to produce a feature-length movie in place of a seventh series. Knight had previously suggested the film would arrive sometime in 2024, but, with filming beginning in September 2024, Knight has now hinted at a 2025 release date.[20][21]
