Brian Finch

Brian Finch was one of Britain's leading TV scriptwriters and notably wrote over 150 episodes of the soap Coronation Street. In 1999 he won critical acclaim for his dramatisation of Michelle Magorian's Goodnight Mister Tom, the wartime story of a crusty widower and a boy evacuee, starring John Thaw.

Wigan born Finch was the son of a miner. He was educated at Thornleigh College, Bolton and then began a career in journalism as a reporter on a local newspaper. He did his National Service in the RAF and on being demobbed, joined the Manchester Evening News. He later went to work at the BBC as a press officer and in 1966 wrote his first play, Rodney, for the BBC Wednesday Play series.

He joined Granada TV's Coronation Street and became one of its most respected and entertaining writers. He contributed to many other TV series including Hunter's Walk, The Brothers and Fallen Hero. He also performed in episodes of Hetty Wainthrop Investigates.

At his funeral his son Paul, also a writer, said that his father was proud of his humble beginnings and had never forgotten where he had come from. He revealed that his father first learned his mother was pregnant with Paul when Paul McCartney handed him a phone while he "was having an argument in a lift" with John Lennon in the sixties. Paul said: "Dad was the son of a miner. He was as comfortable standing at a bar in Wigan talking about Wigan rugby league as he was at some BBC cheese and wine party."