For all the trappings of success from material performed world-wide (he has just returned from seeing a production of Educating Rita in Paris), Willy still goes to work each day: a luxurious and meticulously tidy two-storey loft apartment in the Georgian quarter behind Liverpool Cathedral houses a grand piano: “I used it to write some extra songs for a planned film of Blood Brothers. “It’s not happening at the moment because nobody will give us the 50 or 60 million dollars needed. “I’ve finished the screenplay. Most of that was written in (the movie director) Alan Parker’s Soho office. But I did the music here.” Willy has never quit Liverpool: “It suits me,” he says. “The thing some value about me more than my work is that I have stayed. I sometimes think that if Osama bin Laden had come from Anfield, as long as he’d stayed, everyone would be grateful.” He does some teaching and always has since his mate, the late Adrian Henri, persuaded him to helm writers’ courses back in the 70s. He reads some of the many scripts sent to him: “A lot of the time they don’t get through. But at the moment I’ve got a novel from an actor I’ve known for years. Now I’m not going to say no to that, am I?” Willy doesn’t mind the attention when he goes around town: “Most of the time it’s fine if people come up and exchange a word. “If you’re buying undies and socks then it’s different, which is why I get those in London.” One more recent project was a performance tour with Calendar Girls writer and musician Tim Firth, during which Willy sang and read from his debut novel The Wrong Boy: “The costs were ginormous. If we had been 25 year-olds it would have been a fantastic beginning. “I have never stopped working and never will. The emphasis may have changed. I have not written a new stage play for a long time.” But will things go full circle? “The reason I am re-doing Stags and Hens, without seeming to announce a manifesto, is because there is an attempt to put together a permanent acting company. “If that happened, it would mean for the first time in 20 years I would have a theatrical home – for which I may, or may not, write a new play. “But that’s the sort of situation I could work with. “I haven’t enjoyed those conditions basically since regional theatre changed beyond all recognition and became administrational rather than creative. “But it’s very early days. “I have always required certain conditions to write a play, I have never written specifically for the West End or Broadway. I write plays for groups of people. “And I still say that when it works, there is nothing better than a full-on theatre experience.” Stags and Hens, Royal Court, February 1-March 1. | 
