Warren, who was 23, was allowed to write 12 episodes – plus a finale in case they bombed.
Elton agreed, despite scepticism from the Granada supremo, Sidney Bernstein. Desperate for an outlet for the characters buzzing in his head, Warren begged the producer Harry Elton for a shot. There was a yearning for recognition and self-assertion among the working class. But as a junior writer at Granada, which had only begun broadcasting in the still starchy world of TV in 1956, he grew tired of writing Biggles scripts. Photograph: ITV/REX/Shutterstockīack in Manchester, Warren also absorbed the speech and personalities of gay men at pubs such as Paddy’s Goose.
