Tony Warren is a former actor who turned into Britain's youngest scriptwriter. In 1960 he created Coronation Street and wrote all the early episodes. He also devised the film Ferry 'Cross the Mersey. At the end of the '60s he disappeared from the public eye, though the following decade of drink and drug addiction has been well chronicled by the tabloid newspapers. He abandoned these addictions over ten years ago. His debut novel, The Lights of Manchester, was his first piece of major creative writing since his recovery. Nowadays Tony Warren is consultant to Coronation Street and lives in Manchester.