Anthony McVay Simpson (8 July 1936 – 1 March 2016) publishing under

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Tony Warren, was an English television screenwriter and actor, best known for creating the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

soap opera ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

''. He created other television dramas and wrote critically acclaimed novels.

Early life

Warren was born at 3 Wilton Avenue,

Pendlebury Pendlebury is a town in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,069. It lies north-west of Manchester city centre, north-west of Salford and south-east of Bolton. Historically in Lancash ...

, Lancashire. He attended Clarendon Road Primary School and Eccles Grammar School. He trained at the Elliott-Clarke theatre school in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. He adopted Warren as a stage name in his early acting career. He became a regular on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

Children's Hour ''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Childre ...

'' and acted in many radio plays, performing with many actors who later became household names through ''Coronation Street'', most notably

Violet Carson Violet Helen Carson, OBE (1 September 1898 – 26 December 1983) was a British actress of radio, stage and television, and a singer and pianist, who had a long and celebrated career as an actress and performer during the early days of BBC Rad ...

who played

Ena Sharples Ena Sharples (née Schofield) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', played by Violet Carson. She appeared in the first-ever episode, broadcast on 9 December 1960, and stayed with the show until 2 April ...

and

Doris Speed Doris Speed, MBE (3 February 1899 – 16 November 1994) was an English actress, best known for her role as landlady of the Rovers Return Inn Annie Walker on ''Coronation Street'', a role she played from the programme's first episode in 1960 un ...

who played Annie Walker. In his memoirs, ''Over the Airwaves'', ''Children's Hour'' producer, Trevor Hill, explains how Warren was an excitable young teenager at rehearsals, so much so that on one occasion Violet Carson warned "If that boy doesn't shut up, I'll smack his bottom!" During a later unexpected transmission break from London while performing at the Leeds studio, Carson played and sang to the children a dialect song called "Bowtons Yard" in which the storyteller speaks about his neighbours. Starting at Number 1 and ending at Number 12, the storyteller describes each person in turn and Warren later admitted this is what gave him the inspiration for ''Coronation Street''.

Career

Warren acted on stage and in several early ITV ''Plays of the Week''. According to BBC producer Olive Shapley who had worked with Warren on ''Children's Hour'', the idea for ''Florizel Street'' (which became ''

'') came to him late one night in 1959 while they were returning to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

by train. Shapley recalled: In 1960,

Harry Elton Harry Elton (5 January 1930 – 16 May 2004) was a Canadian broadcaster, primarily known as the television producer who championed the development of the British television programme '' Coronation Street'' in 1960, currently the world's longest-r ...

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

commissioned a script from Warren for a show about "a street out there". Warren wrote all 13 episodes of the serial that

initially decided to air. When the show became a success, as creator of the show, he continued to write scripts until 1968, after which he moved on to other fields. However, he continued to write occasional scripts until the late-1970s. He was also retained by

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as a consultant to ''Coronation Street''. "Created by Tony Warren" appears in the closing credits of every Coronation Street episode to this day. Warren made a cameo appearance in the 50th anniversary live episode of ''Coronation Street'' in December 2010. He was played by David Dawson in the BBC drama ''

The Road to Coronation Street ''The Road to Coronation Street'' is a 2010 British drama first broadcast on BBC Four. It is a dramatisation of the creation of '' Coronation Street'', the UK's longest-running television soap opera, from conception to its first transmission in ...

'' in September that year. In the 1990s he wrote a series of critically acclaimed novels: ''The Lights of Manchester'' (1991), ''Foot of the Rainbow'' (1993), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1995) and ''Full Steam Ahead'' (1998). He was the subject of a '' This Is Your Life'' television programme on 11 October 1995.

Awards and honours

Warren won a number of awards, all in relation to devising ''Coronation Street''. He received a Special Achievement Award in Soap at the British Soap Awards 2000 and the National Television Landmark Award in 2005. His most recent accolade was at the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

awards in which he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The society described the show as "the most successful television programme in British history". In 1994, Warren was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. In 2008 he was awarded an honorary degree from

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

"in recognition for his contribution to ground-breaking television and creative writing which has helped put Manchester and Salford on the cultural map".

Personal life

Warren was openly gay from his early years of ''Coronation Street'', at a time when homosexual acts were illegal. Warren battled with drug and alcohol addiction before attending rehabilitation.

Death

Warren died on 1 March 2016 after a short illness, aged 79. His death was announced on ''Coronation Street''

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account.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Tony 1936 births 2016 deaths Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Coronation Street English male screenwriters British gay writers LGBT screenwriters LGBT writers from England Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Swinton, Greater Manchester Writers from Lancashire People from Pendlebury 20th-century English male actors Male actors from Salford