Although featuring Jimmy’s fraudulent attempt to become a teacher, it is not a story about teachers. It is about a socially categorised misfit trying to reclaim some legitimacy using the only skills he knows. Jimmy is treading his own road to Damascus and the story will also concentrate on whether teachers are born or simply trained.

The attempt to link this storyline to David Blunkett and the National Year of Reading is at best tenuous when one considers that Jimmy set out down his chosen road more than 12 months ago - long before either David Blunkett and the NYR had passed the election winning post. However, if he really does want to tie Jimmy to the literacy campaign, could he not ponder on where Jimmy might have been if he had a better educational background providing better literacy skills?

Finally, to date, October 3, no one at Brookside has had any contact from the Teacher Training Agency.

PHIL REDMOND

Executive producer Brookside Production Ltd Liverpool