FORMER fish merchant Tom Hadaway, who went on to become one of the North-East's finest playwrights, has died.

He suffered a stroke a week ago while visiting family in Belfast and died in hospital yesterday - only two days short of his 82nd birthday.

Mr Hadaway, who was born in North Shields, took the advice of North-East writer Cecil Taylor, to produce work based on his knowledge of the local fishing community.

He didn't take up a writing career until in his early 40s and only gave up being a fish merchant on the Quayside at North Shields in 1983.

But the sea remained his inspiration. While he may be best known to many for his work on the 1970s TV hit When The Boat Comes In, his plays - The Long Line, The Filleting Machine and Seafarers - won him widespread acclaim. He had a long association with Newcastle's Live Theatre Company, which last night expressed its sadness at the news.

Artistic director Max Roberts said: "I have lost a dear friend and someone who shaped not only my career and artistic life but also those of hundreds of others through his writing for the stage, TV and radio."

In 2002, in recognition of his importance in the North-East theatre world, Mr Hadaway was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Sunderland.

Last night, the University of Sunderland's vice-chancellor, Professor Peter Fidler, said: "We are all very saddened by the news and our thoughts are with Tom's wife Barbara, son John and daughter Pauline."

Actor Tim Healy said: "He's going to be sorely missed. He was a huge part of my life. He wrote the first stuff I did as a young actor. He was the finest playwright of all time."

In all, Mr Hadaway wrote more than 20 plays plus film and television scripts.

Ironically, some of his "forgotten works" - The Prison Plays, inspired by his time as writer in residence in Durham prison in 1986 - were only recently published by the University of Sunderland.

The four previously unpublished plays were brought to print by actress and university lecturer Val McLane.

Mike Mould, of Brothers Theatre Company, which is rehearsing one of his plays, said: "He was so full of humility that he would say 'I am not a writer'. Tom always said if I can do it anyone can, but he was exceptional."