Ricky Tomlinson signs '£800,000' deal for autobiography
Ricky Tomlinson has signed a deal worth more than three-quarters of a million pounds for his autobiography.
The actor was being pursued by four major publishers for his life story.
He finally settled on a deal thought to be worth around £800,000 (€1.3m) after his wife Rita conducted negotiations from the front room of their Liverpool home.
Tomlinson, 62, shot to fame as trade unionist Bobby Grant when Channel 4 soap Brookside launched 20 years ago.
But he came into his own when he became super-slob Jim Royle in the Caroline Aherne series. It has led to numerous awards, ad campaigns and even his own album showcasing his banjo skills.
Now he has signed up to tell all about his life in an as yet untitled book which will be published in the autumn of next year by Time Warner Books.
Celebrity biographies proved to be big moneyspinners in the run up to Christmas last year with Pamela Stephenson's book about her husband Billy Connnolly topping the best seller lists for weeks and selling more than 400,000 copies. The candid volume, Billy, was also named book of the year at the British Book Awards this week.
Tomlinson's editor Antonia Hodgson said: "We just think he's got a really exciting story to tell and he's very much admired as an entertainer.
"It's the combination of a brilliant story and an excellent personality. The book isn't written and he's going to have take some time out from acting to work on it and contact his friends about his past.
"He is a great storyteller. When we went up to discuss it with him, we thought he would talk for an hour but three and a half hours later he was still telling anecdotes - they were just pouring out of him."
A socialist for much of his life, Tomlinson was jailed in the early Seventies during the builders' strike.
