Former Coronation Street writer John Stevenson has died at the age of 86.

Having penned 447 episodes between 1976 and 2006, Stevenson was one of the soap's most prolific writers, responsible for scripts including the two-hander between Raquel (Sarah Lancashire) and Curly (Kevin Kennedy), as well as the exit of Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs).

News of his death was shared on social media by former Corrie star Sean Wilson, who played Martin Platt.

"It is with great regret that I hear of the passing of John Stevenson - the talismanic writer of many an episode of the halcyon years of Coronation Street," he wrote.

"John headed up a writing team who steered the series into many 20 million viewer storylines but always had one eye in the comedic charms of Northern life. From a little knowing wink to a rip roaring belly laugh, John was a craftsman of TV humour.

"I swear you could walk down any street in the UK at 7:30pm and hear the whole country laughing at John's special humour. His like will never be seen again in TV it seems. He always had kind words for me throughout my tenure there and wrote some of my favourite episodes ever. Rest well John with a wry smile of contentment."

Russell T Davies wrote in tribute: "A great lion of scriptwriters has passed away. John wrote hundreds of episodes of Coronation Street, and co-created Brass with Julian Roache. When I was at Granada, I was terrified of him. He once said 'Hello Russell' and I was happy all day that he knew my name.

"His writing bristled with truths and wit and insight. I was once in a commissioning conference, when Ken Barlow had come back from a very unhappy family holiday. Another writer piped up, 'But why did they go on holiday? If they're so unhappy?' John turned his mighty beard towards him. 'ALL unhappy families go on holiday.' Wonderful."

Stevenson was also responsible for co-creating and penning a comedy spinoff of Corrie, The Brothers McGregor, which ran for four years in the '80s.