How Amazon Prime series Reacher came from the ITV Coronation Street cobbles

The American crime thriller Reacher has proved such a hit Amazon Prime has already confirmed a second series after it launched on the streaming platform earlier this month.

The eight part series, starring Alan Ritchson as an ex military policeman Jack Reacher, came from the blockbuster book series by Jim Grant, who is known by his pen name Lee Child.

The novels also inspired the Tom Cruise movies Jack Reacher in 2012 and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back in 2016.

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But many fans may not realise the inspiration for Jack Reacher comes from a trade union dispute at Granada Television, the home of Coronation Street, reports the Scottish Daily Express.

Author Jim, who has penned 26 Jack Reacher books and has made a cameos in both films and the TV series finale, was a transmission controller and shop steward at Granada, part of ITV, when the company formerly based on Quay Street was making staff redundant in the mid 90s.

In an interview with the blog Grantland in 2012 Grant recalled sitting in "horrendous meetings" with his boss.

“I’d have these horrendous meetings and want to break the guy’s leg,” he recalled.

"But obviously you can’t break the guy’s leg.

"So how would you have it done? Where could you find the kind of people to do it for you? How would you pay them? How would you pay them in an untraceable way?

"You’re working out all this narrative and it’s great training."

Jim, who now lives in New York, worked at Granada Television, now ITV Granada, from 1997 until 1995.

He then channelled his rage into a story about a lone wolf hero.

The author walked to WHSmith at Manchester's Arndale Centre and bought three