The writer Jan Needle, who has died aged 80, was best known for his books and TV series for children but he also wrote seafaring novels, brutal crime thrillers, plays and TV series for adults. The unifying theme of all his stories was a commitment to social justice and a willingness to explore societal issues in a way that was finely balanced and fair, but also provocative and controversial.
This brought him success early in his career when his second book was shortlisted for the Guardian children’s book prize. My Mate Shofiq (1978), which tells how a growing friendship between two boys, one white and one Pakistani, expands the horizons of both, was praised for its well-balanced reflection of a multicultural contemporary school experience. Jan showed an equally sure touch in the books that followed, including A Sense of Shame and Other Stories (1980), a short-story collection reflecting teenagers’ experiences as they navigate prejudice and adult judgment, and Piggy in the Middle (1982), in which a young policewoman stands up against the institutional racism within her own community.
His most direct social commentary came in Wild Wood (1981), illustrated by Willie Rushton, a lively version of The Wind in the Willows in which all those – human and animal – oppressed by Toad mount a rebellion and become the new heroes of the story.
Set in the Falklands war, A Game of Soldiers, first a Bafta-nominated TV series (1984) then a novel (1985), was more hard-hitting in the vivid picture it gave of the shifting views of a xenophobic young soldier whose hatred turns to compassion after he meets a wounded Argentinian soldier. Jan relished both the threat of the government ban that the story provoked and that the book remained on school reading lists for many years afterwards. He liked comedy, too, though, as in The Size Spies (1979), a zany novel for younger readers, and in a picture book, Rottenteeth (1980), both illustrated by Roy Bentley.
Born in Holybourne near Portsmouth, Jan was the son of Jim Needle, an engineer, upholsterer and inventor, and Dot (nee Brice), a cook for the Portsmouth water board, among other things. After a brief spell in North Wales, the family moved back to Portsmouth, where Jan went to Church Street school, before winning a scholarship to Portsmouth grammar school, where he claimed his greatest achievement was to introduce the Sea Scouts to the school. He left aged 17 having been told he was unlikely to pass any of his A-levels.
Instead, in 1960 he got a job as a reporter on the Portsmouth Evening News, before moving to Manchester for work as a reporter and subeditor on the Daily Herald and Sun in 1964. In 1968 he went to the University of Manchester to study drama, graduating with a first in 1972. During his student years he wrote two radio plays and became the first writer-in-residence at the Contact theatre.
Jan lived either in Manchester or the nearby countryside for the rest of his life. His first book, Albeson and the Germans, was published in 1975 and he quickly established himself as a strong voice in reflecting contemporary adolescence in children’s fiction. He was a natural choice as a writer for three books based on the Grange Hill TV series and its spinoff, Tucker’s Luck. He also wrote his own TV series, including Behind the Bike Sheds (1985), and books based on them. Other TV writing credits for children included episodes of Count Duckula, Sooty and Thomas the Tank Engine.
Jan wrote five episodes of the Channel 4 soap Brookside in 1985-87. A deal to write six episodes of The Bill had just been completed when, in 1992, Jan was involved in a traffic accident, in which his stationary van was hit by a truck. Two people were killed in the collision and Jan was in a coma for several days.
His recovery was slow but he was determined to get back to writing. His Sea Officer Bentley series reflected Jan’s critical view of life in the English navy in the 18th century, and included an adult retelling of A Fine Boy for Killing, originally published for children in 1979. He spared readers nothing in exposing the horrors of life for the press-ganged sailors and the inhumane treatment of slaves in Jamaica. His later thrillers, including Kicking Off, which was serialised for TV as Underbelly, and its sequel The Bonus Boys, were similarly dark in their depiction of Britain’s crisis-ridden prison service.
Jan also created shorter, edited versions for children of classic adult titles including Dracula (2004), illustrated by Gary Blythe, and Moby Dick (2006), illustrated by Patrick Benson.
I met Jan frequently during the 1980s when his rapid output of children’s books and TV was giving him great success. He cared very much about what he was writing and enjoyed being a provocative but responsible contributor to children’s reading. He was as compelling and passionate a storyteller in conversation as in his writing. He disappeared for several years after his accident. On his return, he was so lucid in his telling of it that it remains an unforgettable moment for me. Fortunately, he was also remarkably unchanged.
He remained a keen sailor throughout his life and an enthusiastic musician, playing the penny whistle and the mandola.
Jan married Elizabeth Groom, a primary school teacher, in 1966 and they had three children, Hugh, Sadie and David. He also had a long relationship with Viv Gardner, with whom he had two sons, Matti and Wilf. Jan is survived by Elizabeth and Viv, and by his children and two grandchildren, Issy and Finlay.
• Jan (James Albert) Needle, writer, born 8 February 1943; died 9 October 2023
