The Shields-born author of Callan: The Man Behind Britain's 1970s TV Drama

The star of the hit TV series Callan: Edward Woodward. Photo: Dove/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

placeholder image — The star of the hit TV series Callan: Edward Woodward. Photo: Dove/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

It was one of the best known British TV drama series of the 1960s and 1970s.

But did you know that it was written by an award-winning South Shields man.

Callan and When The Boat Comes In writer James Mitchell. Photo: Freddie Mudditt. | Freddie Mudditt

Edward Woodward played the title role

South Tyneside-born novelist and television writer James Mitchell was the creator behind the television series Callan, starring Edward Woodward in the title role.

Edward Woodward, the star of Callan. Photo: Dove/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. | Dove/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

Mr Mitchell was named best writer of a series at the 1970 Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards.

By then, he was living and working in London but he had been a lecturer at South Shields Marine and Technical College.

‘If you want to keep up a high output you need to be disciplined’

James Mitchell, pictured above on a return to South Shields, was born in 1926 and created television series When The Boat Comes In and Callan. He died in 2002. | Freddie Mudditt

He said at the time: “I work from 10 in the morning to six at night, with an hour for lunch. If you want to keep up a high output - and these days, I have to - you need to be disciplined.”