King of drama: Prolific writer and Hull ambassador Alan Plater dies

Click the green PLAY button to hear a Yorkshire Post interview with Alan Plater on the Golden Age of Yorkshire Television. Read more

Plater, 75, had been battling pancreatic cancer. His agent confirmed he died yesterday after being admitted to the Marie Curie Hospice in North London earlier this week.

The Bafta-winning screen writer began his career as an architect but his big break came when famous literary agent Peggy Ramsay recruited him to write for the gritty police drama Z Cars.

Plater went on to write a host of top dramas for television including The Beiderbecke Affair, Fortunes of War, Last of the Blonde Bombshells, The Barchester Chronicles, A Very British Coup, and Lewis, during a career spanning half a century.

He also wrote the screenplays for DH Lawrence's The Virgin and the Gypsy and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet, based on James Herriot's books.

Northern Broadsides' artistic director Barrie Rutter said: "He remained impish and sparkling; he maintained his creative output to the last... and whatever Valhalla his soul seeks to rest in his room will be full of friends." Hull Truck Theatre creative director John Godber said: "He was a real advocate for Hull and the region and a lifelong Hull City fanatic. He was also a great bloke."