In 1965 I wrote a TV play called  All The People, All The Time about a Geordie rough diamond at Cambridge and his problems with his old pals back in the North East. It won the amateur section of a BBC/Northern Arts competition, but was never produced.  It led, however, to my writing a drama-documentary about the Animals pop group - never produced.

          In 1986 I wrote Jossy’s Giants, five episodes for the BBC about a Geordie wide boy who had played for the Toon and ran a kids’ team.  It was fantastically popular. I did ten episodes in all and when one was repeated in 1988 it got 6.7 million viewers.  I also wrote the show as a musical, which had a successful run at the Bolton Octagon in 1989.

          In 1994-96 I wrote two series of Sloggers, again for BBC. It was about a kids’ cricket team run by a bossy woman, and was based on my son Daniel’s exploits in Pudsey junior teams.  One of my scripts was nominated in the ‘Best Children’s Comedy’ section of the Royal Television Society awards in 1995.