TONY PERRIN :

Has been a full-time dramatist since 1967. His credits total over 150 and include scripts for Coronation Street ( one of the shows regular writers for 20 years ) Crown Court and Play For Today, plus two BBC TV drama-documentaries. He has had 12 full-length stage plays produced including War Pictures which was co-winner of the first Royal Exchange/Mobil Drama Prize. He has also been awarded two Arts Council Bursaries. Tony led the team of writers on The Colcloughs – penning more than 30 of the 92 episodes.. and in 1994 he was lead writer on Goldmoor – a 12-part mining drama commissioned for eight radio stations by BBC Midlands which the Guardian’s radio critic described as “excellent”.

JOYCE HOLLIDAY :

Had her first play performed soon after graduating with an English degree from Sheffield University and worked mainly in the theatre before joining The Colcloughs. She chaired the Arnold Bennett Literary Association and adapted many of his novels. Her dramatisation of ‘Anna of the Five Towns’ has been on both radio and television. Joyce lived in the Potteries for 30 years before joining The Colcloughs and drew on many of her own experiences in writing the radio soap.

MARK BICKERTON :

Is a former British Rail engineer who gained his Masters Degree in playwriting at Birmingham University. The author of several plays, he had early success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the production of ‘Like It Lump It’ which won critical acclaim. Since his break on The Colcloughs he’s travelled the world as a consultant training writers in the art of soap opera, written numerous episodes of Family Affairs, Hollyoaks and others, storylined over two-thousand episodes of Coronation Street eventually becoming the story producer for Emmerdale. “Thanks to The Colcloughs” he says, “I’ve enjoyed a long, varied and successful career. If other hungry young writers could be afforded the same break I was, that could only be a good thing.” Mark is now Head of Engagement with ITV soaps.
See Mark’s Blog

ROBERT STUART :

The son of RAF parents, his formative years were spent on the move before the family finally settled in Stoke on Trent in 1960. He first started writing at school and eventually went on to take a Masters course in English literature at Manchester University, qualifying as a teacher. He joined the team of Channel Four’s ‘Brookside’ at its inception in 1982 as a researcher / storyliner. A keen poet with many published works, The Colcloughs was his first writing commission.