My friend Daniel Mornin, who has died aged 58 following a heart attack, was a strong new voice in British drama in the 1980s and 90s, bringing to stage and screen the authentic voice of contemporary Ulster. He wrote extensively for the theatre, radio and television, and his novel, All Our Fault, was adapted for the film Nothing Personal (1995) starring Ian Hart, John Lynch and Michael Gambon.
Born and raised in Belfast, where his father Daniel was a machinist and his mother a cleaner, he left school at 15, taking a variety of jobs before joining the Royal Navy. After leaving the navy in 1977 he travelled extensively through France, Austria, Turkey, Nepal and North Africa and took English and economics A-levels, but turned down a teachers' training course, opting for a theatre workshop. Here he first met, among other rising stars, the composer Stephen Warbeck, who was to become a friend, and who composed music for his funeral.
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