The BAFTA nominated Boot Street Band and the Royal Television Society Award-winning The Queen's Nose are just two of the series created by the 57-year-old writer.

Mr Attridge, of Dickens Road, Warwick, has also written scripts for films and has most recently turned his hand back to publishing novels.

Preparing for the launch of his new book, Mr Attridge has spoken about the reasons for and the inspirations behind his long and successful career.

Steve Attridge has received nominations and awards throughout his writing career but he still regards his first published poem as his greatest achievement.

The work was a story about roamtic poet John Keats, which Mr Attridge wrote at the time he was appearing as a support act for the punk performance poet John Cooper Clarke in the late 1970s.

This was the first of many times the writer's talent would be recognised in the 30 years that followed.

Mr Attridge said: "Getting your work published is like the first love of your life or getting your first car - even if it's an old banger it has significance.

"I got £25 for the poem and I felt like the world was my oyster.
"Those are the things I cherish."

In the 1980s Mr Attridge turned his hand to writing and directing plays and he continues to do so.

His break through in television writing came in 1990 when the BBC broadcast his six-part children's series Billy Webb's Amazing Story.

In the years that followed the writer created ten shows, working on The Boot Street Band with good friend Andrew Davies - the award-winning script writer and author who lives in Kenilworth.

But he was keen not to be pigeonholed as a children's writer and started creating screenplays for an older audience.

"As a writer you've got to keep reinventing yourself. That is why I've now switched to novels.

"There's always humour in my work, even in the darker stuff.

"My rule of thumb is fairly simple, get people laughing and you can take them somewhere else - so that's the way I approach any story."

Writing the script for the critically acclaimed 2003 film Guy X, starring Hollywood actor Jason Biggs, is another point of pride for Mr Attridge.

His other work includes television dramas including The Bill, Dalziel and Pascoe and the feature-length BBC detective thriller Hawkins.

But the writer has become disillusioned with the current state of television.

Mr Attridge said: "Television drama doesn't seem to be as exciting and there are fewer opportunities to do what I want now.

"Children's television used to be brilliant but now there are more channels chasing the same audience.

"Everything has become more conventional and they are more worried about the viewers they might lose.

"Reality TV is cheap to make of course - get six people in a house with a pot plant and you've got a hit series."

A former lecturer of creative writing at Warwick University, Mr Attridge moved from Muswell Hill in London to Warwickshire 25 years ago.

His new novel, Bottom of the List, is a dark and satirical look at campus life, education and human corruption inspired by his teaching role.

Mr Attridge said: "As students leave university they become consumers and are more interested in where they can park their Mini Cooper than changing the world.

"Education has got more like a production line, it's becoming quite corporate and I wanted to get this off my chest.

"I always thought it was a good thing to go to university but I'm not sure now - not if someone comes out with a £35,000 debt."

Mr Attridge credits his son Jacob, 25, for inspiring much of his work.
This is a result of adventures they had together and the pets they owned when he was growing up.

He said he often bases his characters on animals as he finds them more interesting than most people.

The writer added: "I pinch some ideas and I always keep a notebook so I have a back log.

"I also read a lot and take notice of things so I can cultivate a quirky little world.

"A lot of my inspiration comes when I'm gardening or looking through a telescope at the stars and other things which aren't necessarily intellectual.

"It's part of my job to keep a large bag of interests, they nourish you."

A fan of Dennis Potter, Sam Peckinpah, Charles Dickens and Stephen King, Mr Attridge's favourite writer is Ted Hughes.

He admires how the former poet laureate was from a "different tradition" in that he came from the north of England, was not educated at Oxford or Cambridge and got his ideas by studying anthropology and animals.