Having read Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald at the age of sixteen, I decided I wanted to earn my living by becoming a professional writer. Twenty fours years later I finally achieved that goal, so I'm not what you could call an over-night success. Escaping teaching after five years, I worked my way up in professional theatre from set-designer to writer and director. While script reading for the BBC I joined the writing team of their new soap opera EASTENDERS and my television career took off from there.  In 1994 I became Head of Development for Cloud Nine Screen Entertainment, heading a writing team that produced over a hundred hours of TV series, including working with Richard 'John Boy' Thomas and William Shatner.   My proudest achievement working for Cloud 9 was co-creating the cult-teen TV series THE TRIBE which ran for over 250 episodes and sold to over forty countries. Left to fend for themselves after a virus wipes out the entire adult population, a group of kids struggle to create a just and democratic society in a world ruled by violent anarchic gangs. I have recently written and self-published ny first novel, CHICAGO MAY; a fictionalised account of a real Irish girl who fled a harsh life in Ireland and withing two years became the most successful con-woman in New York. Writing prose gives me the most satisfaction as a writer.   

Writers' Guild Award for 'CORONATION STREET'.