£800,000 for Ricky's life story

As Jim Royle, Britain's ultimate couch-potato, his life revolves around his settee and the telly. But actor Ricky Tomlinson's riveting true story - and a previously unsuspected flair for business - has landed him a six-figure windfall that The Royle Family's patriarch could only dream about.

Tomlinson negotiated his way through a publishers' bidding contest in his Liverpool flat, emerging with an £800,000 deal to write his autobiography - the same sum as Robbie Williams and £50,000 more than Frank Skinner.

Tomlinson's life-story is a tale of early hardships followed by soaring success. Before rising to fame in Boys From The Blackstuff and then Brookside, he was a political radical sentenced to two years in prison.

He was jailed for conspiracy in 1973 after refusing to testify against fellow trade unionists during the builders' strike - a conviction he still wants to have overturned.

Much of his prison term was spent in solitary confinement because, as Tomlinson has recalled: "I refused to wear any clothes."

It was during his time in various prisons around Merseyside that Tomlinson became a devotee of classical music and a committed socialist - thanks to a prison governor. "He gave me a copy of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist which I have read and sent copies of all over the world," Tomlinson has said, "

Born the son of a Liverpool baker in 1939, Tomlinson was a promising footballer but turned down a trial at Scunthorpe United to concentrate on playing the banjo around Merseyside's pubs and clubs, before becoming a plasterer.

After turning to acting his career flourished, and last year he achieved a lead film role in Mike Bassett: England Manager.

He was unavailable for comment today. However, the editor who paid for his signature, Antonia Hodgson of Time Warner Books, said: "He has an incredible life story. We don't do many star biographies, only when there is a great story to tell. Not only does Ricky have that in spades but people respect him because he has been honest about his life and stayed true to his roots."

Ms Hodgson outbid three rivals for Tomlinson's autobiography in an impromptu auction last month in the front room of Tomlinson's Albert Dock flat.

She said: "Ricky is going to take some time out from acting to concentrate on the book, and he has already started doing research and checking what he can remember with his friends from years back.

"He's just had a reunion with all the people in the street where he grew up to gather his childhood memories. He's keen to do it, and not just for the money."

Ms Hodgson said she was confident the public would flock to read Tomlinson's memoirs: "Even the cabbie driving me back to the train station after the auction was saying, 'Ricky Tomlinson? He's pure, bottled Scouse - and we love him'."

Tomlinson's book comes after the success of Pamela Stephenson's unflinching biography of her husband Billy Connolly, which tells of the Scottish comedian's harsh early life, and reveals that as a child he was sexually abused by his father.

The book, Billy, has sold more than 400,000 copies in hardback since its launch last October. Since then, publishers have been searching for the next money-spinner.