Adele Rose: Tributes to Coronation Street writer and Byker Grove creator

Adele Rose wrote more than 400 episodes of Coronation Street

Coronation Street's longest-serving writer, Adele Rose, who also created the children's series Byker Grove, has died at the age of 87.

Among those paying tribute were Ant and Dec, who rose to fame in the BBC One show, describing her as "an incredible lady and a wonderful writer".

ITV said Rose was "particularly adept at giving voice to some of Corrie's classic fearless female characters".

She died of pneumonia on 28 December, her husband Peter Chadwick said.

Her TV credits included Heartbeat, Z Cars, Angels, The Dustbinmen and Robin's Nest.

Born in Salford, Rose wrote more than 400 episodes of the ITV soap between 1961 and 1998, and was its first female writer. She won a Bafta in 1993.

In 1989 she was approached to write a one-off drama about a youth club, which led to a full series of Byker Grove, set in and around Newcastle. It ran until 2006.

"She wrote the first three series by herself, but she was very busy with Coronation Street and they appointed a team of writers, but she still had a creative credit until it ended," Mr Chadwick told the Newcastle Chronicle.

Byker Grove, which ran from 1989 to 2006, was a children's drama set in Newcastle

John Whiston, head of ITV in the North, said: "Not only was Adele a trailblazer, being the very first in what is now a long line of brilliant female Coronation Street writers, she was also particularly adept at giving voice to some of Corrie's classic fearless female characters, from Ena to Elsie, from Bet to Liz.

"If you watched Corrie growing up, then some of the most memorable episodes that are lodged in your mind were written by Adele. And for that the show will always be hugely grateful."