It's hard talk and another chance to hear Stephen Sackers interview

with the British television producer Tony Garnett, who died last week at the age of 83.

My guest today is a TV and sometime film producer

whose work over the course of six decades has had an enormous impact on the cultural life of Britain.

Tony Garnett's determination to use socially realistic drama

to shed light on the darkest corners of British life,

from homelessness to illegal abortion to police corruption,

is inextricably linked with his own personal story.

When Tony was five, his mother died as a result of a botched

backstreet abortion. Three weeks later, his father killed himself. Tony grew up with relatives,

emotionally traumatized, and with a heightened awareness of the realities of poverty, class division,

the gap between the powerful and the powerless.

In the 1960s, he found his way into the world of TV and produced a string of dramas,

including Kathy Come Home about homelessness and Up the Junction about illegal abortion,

which saw him dubbed the best television creator there's ever been.

Now 80, Tony Garnett has written a book looking back on his personal and professional life

and the powerful connections between the two.

I'm delighted to say he joins me now.

Tony Garnett, welcome to Hard Talk.

Sometimes it feels simplistic to make causal links between people's professional lives and their personal lives.

But in your case, would you say there are grounds for making a very direct connection?

There are. Of course, there are with everyone.

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