TED Lewis is one of the most important writers you've never heard of. That is until the film Get Carter is mentioned - the 1971 gangster film that starred Michael Caine.

Now crime author Nick Triplow is bringing Lewis out of obscurity through his biography, Getting Carter, that took ten years of research. The long-time admirer was at York Explore to discuss the "rags to riches to rags" life story with fellow Hull-based crime novelist Nick Quantrill.

The cinema classic was based on Lewis's book Jack’s Return Home and broke the mould for Brit noir that still influences writers and filmmakers.

Lewis grew up in the tough environs of post-war Humberside, attending Hull College of Arts and Crafts before heading for London where he rubbed shoulders with gangsters in Soho. His life is described as a cycle of obscurity to glamour and back to obscurity, He died at only 42.

He sampled the bright temptations of sixties London while working in advertising, TV and films and he encountered excitement and danger in Soho drinking dens, rubbing shoulders with the ‘East End boys’ in gangland haunts. He wrote for Z Cars and had nine books published.

But, unable to repeat the commercial success of Get Carter, Lewis’s life fell apart, his marriage ended and he returned to Humberside and an all too early demise.

Nick Triplow will launch getting Carter at Hull Noir crime writing festival (November 17) and there will be a Hull Noir event at York Explore on November 2 at 6.30pm with Hull writers David Mark, Louise Beech and David Young, interviewed by Nick Quantrill.

Catherine Turnbull