Former Corrie writer Paul Abbott has slammed TV drama as being "under-ambitious, predictable and needlessly boring".
Abbott praised US show Lost for setting "a new benchmark", while criticising Footballers Wives for "regressing to lower standards" in a speech today.
Speaking at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention, Abbott said: "There is a malaise in television drama at the moment.
"Too much drama is under-ambitious, predictable and needlessly boring.
"I've written for TV for 22 years and know it doesn't have to be like this."
Abbott, whose career has also included working on hits like Cracker and State of Play, said: "We're still found regressing to lower standards with stuff like Footballers Wives.
The award-winning writer, who started out on Coronation Street, told the convention: "We need more drama that shows a world we don't know, to take us places we've never been - even if that's in the head of the woman next door."
"Brookside, once my old-time favourite and best written soap died from cruel negligence.
"It made the fatal error of boosting it's ratings with ballistic storylines that were wilfully incongruous to its landscape. "
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