Anthony Horowitz, one of TV’s greatest screen writers, will be in York tomorrow for the Festival of Ideas, reports MATT CLARK.

FORMER University of York student Anthony Horowitz will return to his alma mater tomorrow to share tips on writing for the small screen.

The writer behind some of TVs finest dramas, from Murder In Mind and Midsomer Murders, to Poirot and Robin of Sherwood, Horowitz has one of the most impressive CVs in the business, having also created the BAFTA-winning detective series Foyle’s War.

With scriptwriting roots in the 1990s, does he reckon they were the halcyon days for TV?

“Most certainly not. I don’t think the quality of TV drama has in any way worsened in recent years. What has worsened is the amount of opportunities for serious drama. By that I mean programmes that are more than detective stories or soaps.”

Not that Horowitz decries light entertainment; there’s room for everything he says, but these days trying to get something onto the screen such as Collision or Injustice or even Foyle’s War is more difficult.

The real problem, he suggests, is a lack of funding for serious drama. “Something I’m very aware of is the way reality shows and talent shows have become like some terrible infestation, creeping into every corner of British television.

“I don’t have anything against X-Factor, actually I quite like it as a show but it seems to be on all of Saturday and a quite a large chunk of Sunday too.

“And I often remind people that we had to wait 11 weeks for the last series of Foyle to go on because X-Factor was in the way.”

Dumbing down is not a phrase Horowitz chooses, but he does believe challenging home-grown drama is becoming harder to find.

“I’ve watched The Killing and the whole country seems to have been talking about Homeland or 24; Lost before that.

“These shows are landmark television and seem to be so ambitious in both length and substance. That said, the quality of writing hasn’t diminished in this country and the quality of production is if anything better.

“The problem is it’s becoming increasingly expensive to shoot in England. The next series of Foyle is being shot in Dublin and I’m very sorry about that because I think it’s important to keep British television in Britain.”

Horowitz is still a regular visitor to York and says he is even more proud of the city now than during his time here as a student.

As well as being interviewed by an audience for the Festival of Ideas, he will also open the University of York’s new £20m library.

“York was already a very exciting, lively university when I was there 30 years ago, but frankly it’s unrecognisable now. The new media centre is quite extraordinary and you could shoot a TV series from there, the equipment is so advanced.

“The library extension also, in this day and age of austerity, is sending exactly the right message that the way out of our economic and political problems is through creativity and literacy.

“The idea that education is simply something pragmatic to get you into a job is wrong; we need ideas.”

Ideas won’t be in short supply this month, thanks to York’s Festival of Ideas, which will explore a diverse range of topics, from life in a debtor’s jail to the impact of war at home and abroad.

Literature will play a big part too, but Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider series, says he is pleased the festival is much broader than just being about books. That said, he reckons it deserves to reach a larger audience.

“The festival does seem to have a low profile and I find that surprising. It seems quite parochial, but it should be nationwide, after all a lot of speakers are coming from all over the country.

“It needs national backing.”

• Anthony Horowitz will be in conversation at the Central Hall, University of York, at 2.15pm tomorrow