The BBC missed the chance to show Coronation Street when it turned down the original script by the soap's founder.

Tony Warren said he sent an early version of the long-running show, then called Our Street, to the BBC when he was 19.

He said: "I'm still waiting to hear from them."

And he accused the BBC of copying his idea for EastEnders, saying: "I thought it should say also based on an original idea by Tony Warren."

"Basically it's a translation. Journalists always asked me what I thought and I had to keep my mouth shut but now I can say it is very easy when you've been shown how."

Warren told an audience at the Edinburgh International Television Festival that he climbed on top of a filing cabinet at Granada Studios and refused to get down until they let him make the show.

He said: "I told them I'm not coming down until you let me write what I know about."

Warren said he could never pick a favourite character from the history of the show, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and revealed he does not watch other soaps.

He said: "I love reality television because it came along and said something new."