DERBY writer Lucy Gannon is penning her first stage play in two decades, ready for a premiere in her home city next year.

Derby Live wants to make the piece the jewel in its 2010 programme of home-produced theatre.

The arts organisation will be staging productions at Derby Theatre (the old Playhouse) after it reopens in September – and creative producer Pete Meakin was eager to make Gannon, writer of TV hits such as Soldier, Soldier, a key part of the line-up.

He said: "Lucy hasn't written for the stage for 20 years, and she said she wouldn't write for the theatre again.

"She's incredibly busy at the moment with work for ITV and the BBC, but she still has a real commitment to Derby.

"I first knew Lucy when she lived in Chellaston and had an Amstrad on her kitchen worktop, which she used to write her work on. Now she's a massive name."

Pete had originally inquired about staging an existing Gannon work – but was thrilled to discover she was prepared to offer something new.

Pete said: "Lucy told me: 'I have got something much better for you. It's only half-written, but see what you think.'

"She e-mailed it to me... and I just jumped at it, with both hands."

The play, Broken Hearted, explores love, grief, resilience, laughter and our appetite for revenge.

And there's a bit of poetry and some songs, apparently.

Pete adds: "It's terrific – and it's great to have Lucy back in the city."

Gannon is a former social worker and nurse who became one of the most sought-after TV writers in the business.

In 1987 her play Keeping Tom Nice, about a disabled boy whose father commits suicide, earned her a Richard Burton Award and a six-month writer-in-residence role at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Keeping Tom Nice was staged to acclaim at the Almeida Theatre in London, and then turned into a BBC drama starring Linus Roache.

Her TV writing career subsequently blossomed and she wrote 11 episodes of Soldier Soldier, 12 of Peak Practice and 15 of Bramwell.

More recently she created Blue Dove.

Gannon said: "When Pete Meakin asked me if I had a play up my sleeve, I told him I had just half a play.

"Then he asked me if I'd bring it – finished – to Derby. It was a daunting proposal; I haven't written for the theatre for nearly 20 years, I don't have a second act to the play yet, and the audience would include old friends.

"I would be mad to accept, especially as I have a very full year in front of me without the added challenge of a stage play. But how could I resist Derby? And who has ever resisted Peter?

"So, with some real fear, I said: 'Oh, all right, then...'

"Derby people are never fooled, so now I must roll up my sleeves and get down to it. Derby deserves a lively and relevant theatre – and I will do anything I can."

Pete believes that Broken Hearted may be suitable for a local setting.

"It's a bit nebulous, but, when we come to work on it, if we want to give it a local setting it might be an option," he said.