He then moved to London, where he became a Script Associate at the Royal Court Theatre, and was a member of the Writer's Group there, writing and directing for their production of new short plays Shots In The Dark.
O'Connell was a founder member of Loose Exchange Theatre Company,[5] writing a play Scarecrows which toured England with Arts Council assistance and ran for two months in London.
Vincent enlisted Kane as Assistant Director with Loose Exchange for their production at the Soho Poly, and she skipped off school to fulfil the role.
A string of BBC commissions followed, of which Criminal received a number of awards including Royal Television Society Best Single Drama in 1995.
won a number of international film festival awards and was short-listed for Best Screenplay by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.
The following year he directed Sarah Kane's script Skin, financed by Film 4, which was shortlisted for a Golden Bear at Berlin.
He also made a number of no-budget experimental films, which he wrote, directed, shot and edited, including Living Space and Happy Hour.
Over recent years O'Connell has created and written a number of major commissioned TV series, none of which have made it into production.