13 Facts About Paul Abbott

Paul Abbott is responsible for the creation of some of the most acclaimed television dramas of the 1990s and 2000s, including Reckless and Touching Evil for ITV and Clocking Off and State of Play for the BBC.

When he was nine his mother left home to pursue a relationship with another man ; his father, who Paul Abbott describes as having been "bone idle", departed two years later.

Paul Abbott's mother had supported the family from three jobs.

On his release, he was taken into foster care and placed with a much more settled working-class family than his own, where having both adults in steady employment was a new experience for Paul Abbott, as was their ownership of a television and a car.

Paul Abbott enrolled at the University of Manchester in 1980 to study psychology but decided to leave to concentrate on writing when a radio play was accepted by the BBC.

Paul Abbott entered the Radio Times drama competition at the age of 22 which had the requirement to find a professional sponsor.

Paul Abbott worked on Coronation Street for the next eight years as a story editor and from 1989 as a writer.

Paul Abbott made his first breakthrough with a programme of his own creation, the police drama serial Touching Evil in 1997.

Paul Abbott contributed an episode to their anthology series Love in the 21st Century, screened on Channel 4, and in 2000 created and wrote the series Clocking Off for them, which was screened on BBC One.

The first season won the BAFTA award for Best Drama Series, and the equivalent at the Royal Television Society awards; Paul Abbott personally was recognised with the RTS Best Writer award.

Paul Abbott was the highest-placed writer on the list, those above him being actors and executives.

In 2009, Paul Abbott acted as executive producer on the film version of State of Play for Universal Pictures.

In 2015 Paul Abbott was awarded an honorary doctorate from Keele University.