Martin Allen's first stage play Red Saturday won the 1983 Samuel Beckett Award and played at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs. He was playwright in residence at Hampstead Theatre in 1985 where his second play Particular Friendships won the Thames Television Award for best stage play of that year. His original screenplay Song of Experience, directed by Stephen Frears, was shown at the 1985 London Film Festival and transmitted on BBC2 the following year. He wrote the screenplay for Paul Greengrass' debut feature Resurrected which won Interfilm and OCIC Awards at the 1989 Berlin Film Festival before being given a UK theatrical release.