Infirmary Tales was a play produced at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre during it's 19th season in Christmas of 1983. Described as "an evening of agonised glee," contributor Phil Whitchurch was inspired for the play after slipping on ice in a 1982 New Year's celebration and breaking his collar bone. After coming out of the emergency room, he announced his idea for a musical, and local writers were asked to contribute. Of course, Brian Jacques was one of them, along with Bob Eaton, Beryl Martindale, George Costigan, Dennis Wainwright and Alan Bleasdale.