The creator of a hit TV show about petty crooks found himself in the dock after ploughing through a roundabout while drunk.

Steve Coombes, the man behind Bafta-nominated Outlaws, was more than twice the legal limit when he flattened a bollard at a mini-roundabout on St Stephen’s Hill in Canterbury.

But the dad-of-two continued to drive home to Central Parade in Herne Bay, where he was seen trying to park the battered Volvo with his right leg hanging out of the driver's door.

Ironically, it was an episode about a drink-driving crown prosecutor which won him his Bafta nomination for Outlaws in 2004.

The show - largely set in magistrates courts and starring EastEnders actor Phil Daniels - lost out in the Best Serial Drama category and was later axed by the BBC.

But Coombes was back in court for real on Thursday as he faced his first ever conviction.

Magistrates heard he had been driving home from Canterbury railway station on January 19 after a wine-guzzling session with a friend in London. He crashed into the bollard at 12.30am but carried on driving, stopping only to pull it from under his car.

Police were called and followed a trail of destruction from the crash scene, finding his bumper and the bollard further down the road.

A search for the car proved fruitless, but Coombes was tracked down after a neighbour spotted him trying to park his car in a drunken state.

Prosecutor Julie Farbrace said: "She saw a Volvo travelling along Central Parade swerving all over the road. She thought it would hit something or crash.

"The driver was getting in and out of the vehicle and looking at damage to the front.

"He kept trying to park it correctly. He was moving it back and forward with the door open and his right leg hanging out of the car."

The witness told how Coombes eventually managed to park the Volvo before staggering from the car and into his house.

But police knocked soon after and Coombes - who has also written for Silent Witness, Hustle and New Tricks - admitted he had been drinking. He claimed he had hit the roundabout after swerving to miss a cat.

His solicitor Phil Rowley said: "He had gone to London for a business meeting and met a friend. His friend had good news that could be toasted and he admits they toasted to excess. He's ashamed he comes before the court and is not proud to be here."

Coombes admitted drink-driving and was banned from the road for 17 months and made to pay an £800 fine and £85 court costs.