Graham Pembrey

Graham writes for websites, apps and magazines. He has more than 15 years of experience in content and editorial roles, a National Council for the Training of Journalists certificate and a philosphy degree.

Games journalism

I blame the Atari 2600.

Back in the late eighties, my siblings and I huddled around the TV blasting the pixels out of each other in bouts of Combat. Such a simple game, but seeing the action come to life on the screen and actually being in control of those little blocky sprites was something else.

It was joyous and magical. The thought of the creative and technical wizardry at work was captivating.

Arcade machines, Commodore 64, Amiga and PlayStation continued my gaming odyssey over time.

Years on, with considerably more grey hairs, I started writing regularly for Retro Gamer magazine about many of the pioneering games I had grown up with.

My articles for Retro Gamer have included front-cover features, and interviews with industry legends. Highlights have included interviewing Tim Schafer about the riot of imagination that is Grim Fandango, and sitting down with Jon Hare for a good two hours in the appropriate surrounds of Notts County football ground to unpick the history of Sensible Soccer.

You can also find my words in issues of Amiga Addict, Pixel Addict and Debug.

Freelance games journalism is a relatively recent pursuit for me, but one I am really passionate about.

Four magazine covers: two are Retro Gamer magazine, one is Amiga Addict and another is Pixel Addict — *Some of my magazine cover articles.*

Magazine articles on Die Hard Arcade, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Robocop 3 — *I seem to have a thing for Eighties movie franchises.*

Page from a Retro Gamer magazine article on Ico — *A snippet from a feature on Ico, Fumito Ueda's atmospheric masterpiece.*

Content design

As a Content Designer on the NHS App, I work on improving user experience. My role is particularly focused on ensuring text throughout the app and connected websites is clearly written and accessible for people with a wide range of needs (such as screen reader users).

As part of my NHS role, I write everything from user interface copy, to help pages for the public, to guidance that helps design teams follow consistent, quality-assured patterns. I have helped to redesign the structure of the app and improved readability.

Before working for the NHS, I was Head of Health Content at Bupa, where I oversaw hundreds of health information pages on the Bupa website. Before that I was a Senior Editor at Macmillan Cancer Support, where I wrote patient information booklets and edited a magazine for Macmillan health professionals.

Highlights of my health content roles have included:

co-creating the Bupa Dementia Hub (Highly Commended at the British Medical Association patient information awards)
writing the Macmillan guide Feel More Like You in collaboration with specialist nurses and Boots (Winner of a Plain English Campaign award)

Introduction screens for the NHS App — *Some App Store screens I wrote for the NHS App.*

Macmillan Cancer Support publications — *Some publications I wrote and edited while working for Macmillan.*

Other writing

Outside of content design and editing, my miscellany of other writing has included bits and pieces of:

local news journalism
music and culture reviews
travel writing
personal dabblings in fiction (I'm working on a fun interactive story in Twine)

Oneida concert review for The Argus newspaper — *A snippet from a gig review in The Argus.*

Contact me

Thanks for having a look at my website! You can send me an email or connect with me on BlueSky.

For anyone who might be interest, I built this simple website using the w3schools Dark Portfolio template.