SCREENWRITING students were "amazed" to learn that one of their fellow classmates was a film and ex-Coronation Street star.

Budding scriptwriters at Coleg Llandrillo's Abergele campus were joined on the Introduction to Creative Writing' course by Bruce Jones, who played Les Battersby in the soap.

The actor, who is part of the cast of Grandpa God, a film being produced by Prestatyn-based production company Canned Media, studied poetry and scriptwriting on the 10 week course, as well as characterisation, autobiographic writing and how to build characters through dialogue.

On the last day of the course, Bruce and fellow classmate Christine James, of Rhyl, read through her own scripted piece - Lord of the Fleas, which consisted of discussions between an angel (Christine) and the devil (Bruce), concerning which humans should go where.

Bruce, who now resides in Betws-yn- Rhos, said: "My time at Abergele College has been absolutely brilliant. My classmates are great; everyone feeds off each other."

Tutor Karen Robinson said: "Bruce was in high demand during the course.

"He played numerous roles including the devil, a naughty minister and a husband who preferred his dog to his wife. The other students bounced off Bruce and he was delighted to be able to share his wealth of knowledge with them.

"I have smiled, cried and laughed out loud during the course. The standard of their [students] work has been really impressive."

Bruce got his first big break in 1993 when he was cast as the lead in the feature film Raining Stones by multi award-winning director Ken Loach. The film went on to receive great critical acclaim, winning several awards.

He also appeared in the Shane Meadows' film Twenty Four Seven with actor Bob Hoskins in 1997, before joining the cast of the ITV soap Coronation Street.

Bruce was joined by an "eclectic" mix of people on the course including Shelagh Hawkins from Colwyn Bay, and Richard Slater from Conwy, originally a brewer from Sheffield.