Anthony McVay "Tony" Simpson, MBE (8 July 1936 – 1 March 2016), better known as Tony Warren, was an English television screenwriter and actor, who was also responsible for creating Coronation Street.
Biography[]
Early career[]
In his childhood Tony Warren was a child actor who appeared on Children's Hour and co-starred alongside future Coronation Street stars Violet Carson, Doris Speed and Alan Rothwell.
Coronation Street 1960-2016[]
He wrote the original first twelve episodes of the show. He would continue writing occasional episodes until 1964. He would later return to write episodes from 1967 to 1969, and then from 1975 to 1976. Ep 1580 - 8 Mar 1976 was the final episode he wrote for the show. When coming up with the show he would take inspiration from his own working class experiences and the people around him. Sadly despite the success of the show (which was only going to be a 13 episode limited serial), he experienced homophobia by some of the other writers due to him being gay, due to it being illegal to be homosexual in the United Kingdom before it was legalised in 1967. Warren would often point out to these particular individuals that it was thanks to him they had a wage coming in.
Although Warren wouldn't write anymore stories following his departure as a writer in 1976, he would still be associated with the show and credited as the original creator. He would appear in interviews for anniversaries. He was present during the filming of the Tram Crash Week in 2010 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the show.
Following the return of Dennis Tanner (Warren's original creation) to the show in 2011 after a 43 year absence, ITV requested for Warren to write the fate of his beloved original character Elsie Tanner, who left back in 1984 but still had an ambiguous fate within the show. Warren accepted the request and devised a story in which Elsie had died in a car crash in Portugal several years before, dying next to her beloved husband Bill Gregory. Within the show the story was told by Dennis to Rita Tanner, finally wrapping up Elsie's fate after 27 years.
Warren passed away in March 2016 at the age of 79 after a short illness. Tributes were paid to him by the show's cast members.
Portrayals in media[]
Tony Warren as portrayed by David Dawson on The Road to Coronation Street.
Tony's story about trying to get Coronation Street onto the air was the subject of a BBC television film The Road to Coronation Street, in which he was portrayed by David Dawson. The drama was created to tie in with the show's 50th Anniversary in December 2010, airing in September 2010.